Imbeded Instinct
by Tyr'll
Summary: What if Naruto had had a friend in his academy day?
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Naruto. There, I said it. I'm not saying it again though…

**Prologue: One Year Prior **

Deep in the inner boughs of the forest surrounding the Hidden Leaf village, a solitary figure sat, shoulders bent forward in a defeated shrug, his face tearstained in streaks that shone as the moon reflected through their thinly layered sogginess. The child, now noted to be a boy, ran his hand over his eyes, clearing his vision of any residual tears.

Staring at the sky, gazing at the starry night, he held a fascination with the dark light, the quiet reminder that in all of the blank cold of space, there remains to be small stars that keep it bright and cheerful in the absence of the Sun. As the boy gazed at the full moon, he found himself silently wishing that he could be like the Sun, depended upon, loved and impossible to ignore.

The child was small, his head covered in brilliant gold wild hair, unrestrained in almost a sad fashion. He wasn't clothed in much, a simple cheap orange shirt and tattered shorts, anything the people at the village would let him have. Or not, the shirt he had pinched, stolen, from an unwary shopkeeper before he had been thrown out. The old Hokage would have been disappointed in him, but there was little else he could do…

"I wish I could be a dog," the boy thought sullenly. "Everybody loves dogs, hell, even cats more than me…"

Thoughts began to ebb, receding to the previous day; he had witnessed the full love the village could give. He had seen the way the village fondled and awed at another boy, whose family had been lost in some tragic accident. They treated the boy like a hero, because his family…his family…

"Dammit, what about my family? I never had one either…maybe, you have to have at least had a family to loose them," he whispered the words, his eyes beginning to draw tears again. He quickly shook his head, after all, hadn't he sworn he would never cry again? He may have stolen a shirt, but he sure as hell wouldn't be called a liar.

Never.

"Damned villagers," was all he thought. "They can keep their pity." He for one wouldn't need it; he didn't need anything, or anyone. At least he got attention in his pranks. Nobody dared do what he did. He taunted shinobi. He may get caught every time, but he was getting better. Maybe one day he could get away with anything he wanted. Nobody could stop him…

Hopping down from his perch, the boy placed his hands behind his head and relaxed into a smile. Something big was going down tomorrow. He was going to pull a great prank on someone. It takes less muscle to smile than frown, and he needed all the muscle he could reserve.

Humming to himself, the boy made his way out of the forest and into the Village of the Leaf. There was very little of the spring in step or the sparkle of his eyes that would be expected of someone who looked so happy. In a way, the boy wasn't happy. He was frustrated and depressed, but to show it would be the weakness that the village was waiting for. A smile from him was more like a taunt; the villagers hated seeing him happy.

A taunt to the villagers, an act of defiance. He was completely defiant. He refused to die at the hands of the villagers, he would become stronger, and, one day, he would be liked and respected. Now he mentally added never to cry again to his list. He would be stronger, but he was in no hurry. What would he do with a little extra strength? He wasn't allowed into the ninja academy.

No, getting strong could wait. First he needed a friend. But finding one was proving to be difficult. Only time will tell at this point, but he was getting desperate. The boy watched children giggling, talking, telling secrets to one another. Confiding, crying, comforting; things the boy wished he could do, or share with another.

Time came for him to hide, to sweep to the heart of the city unseen. He leapt onto a roof and copied the way he had seen other shinobi move through the city quickly. Bouncing on overhangs because he wasn't quite good enough to make it all the way on long jumps, he moved quickly and silently to his small home, his apartment. The boy sighed in relief at how he avoided all of the village people.

But it wasn't over yet. Slowly leaning back into the door of the complex, he moved into the inner hallway. Moving quickly, pressing himself against the whitewashed wall to remain as unseen as possible, he began to move towards the stairs.

The manager's room was situated directly across from the entrance of the stairs, the boy had to be extra careful here. The only door ajar was the manager's; it was always open to make it easy for the other tenets to visit. Or that was his excuse.

The child reached the edge of the wall; he stood just out of view of the dimly lighted room. Light, from what seemed to be a quietly running TV, spilled out onto the scrappy carpet. Heart thudding against his chest, the boy paused momentarily, wanting to see if he had been awaited.

One second.

A full minute.

Taking a deep breath, the boy took a step out onto the steps. Soon afterward came the sound of a clattering chair, a small cry of resentment and a torrent of flurried steps. The boy wasted no more time.

He rushed up the stairs, and down the second floor's hallway. He heard the manager's thudding footsteps following up, and fished out the key for his apartment. Jamming it in the lock, stepping inside and closing the door with a slam, the child reached up on tiptoe to bolt the door and keep the manager from entering. After all, the man had that bloody master key…

A thud and a few choice curses later, the manager left the boy alone in his room.

Grimacing at the violent display and huffing slightly, the boy glanced around his apartment while he awaited the return of his breath. There wasn't much to distract him from his pounding heart, however. Plain unpainted walls were beginning to crack, each crack beginning to branch out, in such a way that water would dribble down, almost giving the impression that they were weeping.

There were two rooms, and his living room made up his bedroom while it connected with a kitchen. The other room remained to be a bathroom, poorly furnished and lacking most of the needed sanitation equipment, such as soap. The kitchen too was badly lacking in appliances. About the only thing that he could accomplish in there was to boil water, which he used in oatmeal and the occasional cup of ramen.

Finally, with a heave, the blond child entered the kitchen for dinner.

Crying your eyes out in a forest will often give you an appetite.

* * *

School was an important part of the boy's day, although he had no real desire to become a shinobi. The risks that would be taken just didn't seem worth it, to be protecting the village that hated him so…

Getting to school wasn't really that difficult, but waking up from the previous night's rather troubled sleep was hell. Since he had fallen asleep at the small kitchen table, his back cracked in refusal at any limber movements, while his head continued to ache from the uncomfortable position.

He arrived at the academy to find that he was just in time, and wouldn't be punished in the usual fashion for being late. He entered the large room just as the morning chat died down in response to the teacher's roll call.

The tables were lined throughout the room, three seats to a table. At the front of the room, down a small flight of steps stood the ninja instructor, an old looking man past his prime. Apparently the only thing left the man could do was to pass on what he had learned to the younger generation, and even with that, he was soon to retire.

Despite the obvious look of disapproval that came from the instructor, the boy took a lone seat at the back of the classroom. He didn't care that the teacher disapproved; he had nobody else to sit with anyways. He was alone, especially since he had failed yesterday's exam, and had to spend a whole year relearning the basics.

Not that it really mattered anyways; the people here had been a year older than him. Now he was among his own age.

Soon the teacher began to ramble off names, one after another, calling to be sure that the children that were supposed to be learning in his class were there.

"Aida, Kuruno…?"

"Present"

"Akaito, Tsuita…?"

"Good Morning Professor!"

"Ah, good morning Tsu-chan. Amasu, Touji…?"

"…he's skipping."

"Thank you Tsu-chan, I'll be sure to punish him later. Azu-"

The doors leading into the classroom were suddenly flung open. A young man, hunched over with his hands outstretched, stumbled into the classroom and flung himself into the seat closest to him. With a huge breath and an even bigger smile, the recently arrived boy apologized for being late.

"Sorry professor," the kid heaved, "but there was this thing at the place and I had to help out."

"Of course, Seiji-kun. You were only doing what you thought was right. I think I can overlook your tardiness…"

Seiji's face was overjoyed. With a shout, a huge grin and a loud, "Thank you Sensei!" he dropped down in the seat next to the other almost late arrival, who gave him a stare of bewilderment.

"What just happened?"

"Hmm?" Seiji glanced over at the boy. He looked a little young, and the disarray state of his hair to him that the boy had almost just gotten up. "What do you mean?"

The boy snorted. "You were obviously spouting shit. Why'd he let you off? You special or something?"

Seiji's eyes narrowed slightly, but his demeanors remained unchanged. "Funny. You got a name, twit?"

The boy mumbled into his desk.

"Speak up stupid, I can't hear you!"

The boy immediately turned towards Seiji, giving him a cold stare. "Shut up. The teacher has excellent hearing. He is a shinobi after all. And I'm not stupid just because I failed the exam-"

Seiji quickly interrupted. "You failed the gennin exam?"

"What's it to you?"

Seiji smiled brightly again. "So did I! We're in the same boat. What did you screw up in?"

Another mumble.

"What?"

"The bunshin…"

"Really? I screwed up at that too! And the transformation…and the kunai…"

_But that's like the entire exam! _"So are you retarded or something? At least I passed the others."

Seiji paused. "No," he said quietly, "I'm not retarded…" The light in his eyes had gone out for a second. Flickered in intensity, but came back again at full force. "And I'll prove it too! I'm going to pass this year, maybe even become Hokage someday!"

"Hokage…?" To become the Hokage. The respect of the village, and the other shinobi… That was what he wanted, but Seiji seemed to want it even more. It was like his only hope, the thing that kept him going.

"So, are you going to tell me your name?"

The boy was jerked out of his thoughts once again. Seiji wanted his name again. He couldn't give it away without the other boy flinching and moving to take another seat… But what did it matter? He was used to it, and Seiji did ask… "Naruto Uzumaki."

Seiji paused for a moment. He then deftly snatched something out of his pocket. He held a small notebook in his hands. Whipping it open, he read a few lines and asked, "THE Naruto Uzumaki?"

Naruto slowly nodded his head, wondering what Seiji happened to be reading.

"That's funny, you're on my 'People to Avoid' list. Maybe because of your temper…"

Naruto started. 'People to Avoid' list? Why would he have one of those…unless… "Are you new to Konoha?"

Seiji scratched his nose. "Might be. Why are you on my list?"

"I dunno anything about any stupid list! Where'd you get it?"

Seiji held up his hands at the outburst. "Hey, I got it at the gate when I came here. Look, it's even got a picture." Seiji held the small booklet out. Sure enough, a small drawing of him showed, although it was grossly inaccurate and showed heavily elongated fangs and a demon-like smirk. "It doesn't look much like you, does it? Konoha's profiler should be fired."

Naruto sighed, turning away from the booklet. "No, that's just how the villagers see me…"

"Don't your folks do anything about it?"

Naruto winced. "They're dead."

Shinji lowered his gaze. "Sorry, didn't mean to bring up any bad memories…I know how that feels."

"How could you know how this feels! My emptiness? How could you know what its like to have no friends and to be hated and ignored by EVERYONE!" Why was he telling this to him? He had only known Seiji for a few minutes. He took on an apologetic look and was about to apologize for his outburst.

As if reading his mind, Shinji beat him to the punch. "Don't worry about it, everyone needs to vent once in a while. And as for how I understand you…" Seiji smiled sadly, "my parents are dead too. I've had to wander through most of the villages, few of which I've been accepted in, so I've had little time for friends. I used to go to the academy in hidden sand, but they kicked me out because of my abysmal exam scores, so I decided to come here…"

Naruto stared at the kid next to him. Here was somebody that understood him, who felt some of the things that he did. Maybe it would be worth risking a relationship in this case… Seiji, however, beat him to the punch again.

"So…wanna be friends?"

Naruto smiled, truly smiled, for the first time in almost five years. "Sure."

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

First things first…NOT A SELF INSERT!

I'm really hoping this will be an original plot. Since this is only the prologue, however, don't make any assumptions…

As for when I will update, if you care, I dunno. When I feel like it. I often have problems when I write with writers block. I will, however, refuse to abandon a story if it is at all possible for me to finish, so don't worry about another story that only consists of a prologue.

To all of you who might be reading this and wondering why I'm not working on _What Are Friends For?_, I am working on it, and am trying to update, but my writer's bock is acting up.

Any Questions? No? Oh well…


	2. Team Seven 1

"- Team seven will consist of…Uchiha Sasuke,"

A raven-haired boy in the back of the room scowled for an instant before grunting to show that he had heard.

"…Haruno Sakura,"

"YESSSS!" The young pink haired girl sitting adjacent to Sasuke leapt up in celebration. "True love TRIUMPHS!"

At the third name, the sensei paused, running his hand through his auburn hair as a nervous gesture. His name was Iruka, and he had taken over near the beginning of the year, after the older professor decided to move on. Through the reading of the gennin teams, he had only paused at this one time, slightly surprised at the name assigned.

"…and the third member of team seven is…Uzumaki Naruto. Please await your new jounin sensei, Kakashi Hatake. He should arrive soon with the others."

A slightly older Naruto looked up in acknowledgement of his name. He had changed. His unruly blond hair had grown in the last year, but his eyes were burdened, carrying the look of a dog kicked once too often.

Naruto gave an indifferent gaze in the direction of a huffy Sasuke and a cheering Sakura, neither of which had heard the name of their third teammate. He gave a shrug before turning back to his desk. They would learn soon enough.

Iruka gave a sympathetic glance at Naruto before continuing the naming of the teams.

Soon, everyone had been assigned a jounin sensei. Teams were picked up quickly, until the only team left became team seven….

…and most of the members were getting restless. Sakura sat next to a squirming Sasuke, clearly showing her agitation by chatting loudly with the boy.

Sasuke remained stoic, but by the steady twitch in his eye, he too began to show a slight irritation. Whether it was because of the tardiness of their sensei or because he was quickly becoming tired of being talked to without consent remained to be confirmed.

Naruto remained to be the only one showing no outward form of annoyance at the time. He stood facing the back wall, watching the world go by in a steady, unblinking gaze. It was almost as if he was dreaming, completely unaware of the world around him…

Sakura finally broke away from the twitching Sasuke and sighed in annoyance. "Where is he?" When would their sensei get here?

"Sakura…" began Sasuke, "you need to calm down. Our sensei will get here eventually. All we can do now is wait."

"Of course Sasuke! But…" she paused a moment, "what about Naruto?"

Sasuke gave a look at the blond boy, who continued to stare in a rather disturbing way at the passing world. Sasuke nodded at the girl's worries. Lately Naruto did seem a bit…unstable. Not violent, but quiet in a seemingly silent rage. He was a shell, not really functioning in anything but training. He was the first to arrive in the mornings, and the last to leave the class in the evenings. Some students even doubted he did leave…

Finally the classroom door opened. A silver haired man in a jounin flack jacket stepped in, a forehead protector over his left eye.

"Good afternoon, I am your jounin sensei."

"You're late."

Both gennin swung around to stare openly at Naruto, who still hadn't stopped looking out the window. The jounin scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Ah, sorry, but there was this little old lady who looked…like she…needed…" Kakashi watched at the effect his words were having on the boy. It was as if every letter, every sound in his excuse was slowly pounding at him, making him look even more pitiful. _Is this boy really ready to be a shinobi?_

He examined the other two, but they also had expressions similar to his own. So the boy was a mystery to all of them… "All right, all of you move to the roof. I'll meet you there." With a flash of smoke, the jounin was gone.

Sakura started when Naruto suddenly turned and slowly walked out of the classroom, soon to be followed by Sasuke. The pink haired girl hurried to catch up.

* * *

The three gennin of team seven arrived at the rooftop to find Kakashi sitting on the far side waiting for them, his silvery hair whipping around in the breeze. The dark mask he wore to cover his lower face twitched in what could be taken for a smile.

Naruto arrived first, pausing as he swung the door open without a sound, even though from the looks of things the door was old and rusted. As he padded over to Kakashi, however, the jounin shook his head and directed him to a small flight of steps with a tilt to his head. Without missing a beat, Naruto turned away and sat languidly on the bottom step.

Sasuke arrived next, followed closely by an excited Sakura, and he too was directed to the steps with a simple tilt to their sensei's head. Sakura followed him there without a thought and sat next to him on the third step.

Kakashi's mask twitched again as his eyes sparkled. "Now that we're all here, why don't you introduce yourselves? You know, names, hobbies, dreams of the future, specialties, that sort of thing."

"Okay, but sensei," Sakura started, "why don't you go first to-"

"Naruto Uzumaki," the quiet gennin started suddenly, "I don't have any hobbies…dreams of the future…?" he paused. "None."

Kakashi continued to stare at the blond shinobi. When it became obvious that he was done Kakashi prompted, "Any specialties? Favorite taijutsu styles or jutsu?"

Naruto answered without hesitation. "I like the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Sakura stared while Kakashi blinked. Sasuke remained indifferent to the announcement.

"Sensei, what is the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu? Is it like a regular bunshin?"

"Ah," Kakashi started, "I believe that it would generally be better to ask the user of the jutsu about it than me. I've never seen it."

"How about it, Naruto?" Sakura asked sweetly. "What's a Kage Bunshin?"

Naruto turned his head slowly to look at the curious Sakura. She fidgeted under his unblinking gaze, already regretting asking the question. But, just as she was about to retract it, Naruto answered slowly.

"I…don't know."

With his expressionless face and serious monotone, the others felt like falling on their faces.

"Ne, Naruto," began Kakashi, scratching the back of his head, "how can you have that a favorite jutsu, and not even know what it is? I take it you can't perform it either?"

Naruto turned his gaze back to his sensei before rising slowly and forming a cross with the index and middle fingers on each hand. He tensed slightly, releasing a wave of charka. With puff of smoke, an exact clone of Naruto stood behind him, back to back.

The two Naruto leaned against each other, giving the same stare to both sides of the roof. Sakura shivered involuntarily at the slightly depressing, and all together awe-striking scene. While normal bunshin vanished the moment they touched, this one was leaning back against the real Naruto…in fact the technique was so flawless, she lost track of the real Naruto.

"All right Naruto, we still have the other two to go. Release the jutsu."

Then, with a puff of smoke, both Naruto vanished. Kakashi blinked. He hadn't noticed a switch…but then again he hadn't been looking very hard. He gave a quick glace to the top of the low stair flight. He wasn't surprised to see the boy slowly descend and sit back down on the bottom step, as if nothing had happened.

"All right, you with the black hair. You're next."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," he started slowly, "I don't really have any hobbies or dreams," he spat the word out like a bar of soap. "I do have, however, an ambition…to kill a certain man… and as for my favorite jutsu," Sasuke smirked, "only a fool would willingly give out their strengths."

Naruto frowned, but didn't say anything. Sakura, on the other hand, was inwardly cheering on her crush.

"Hmm," Kakashi pondered to himself, "an avenger? Confident one at that…Fine." He spoke a little louder. "Your turn, pinkie."

_Pinkie! Is this guy for real?_ "My name," she huffed, "is Sakura Haruno. I like to read, especially about history and charka. As for my dream of the future…" She glanced fugitively at Sasuke before squealing and blushing.

"Yes, yes," Kakashi sighed, "Now what about your specialties? Have you got your eye on any particular aspect of the shinobi life?" He said it almost hopefully, praying that she was serious about wanting to be one and didn't go through the academy just to get in close with a boy.

"Well…I agree with Sasuke-kun. We shouldn't be giving out our secrets…right?"

Kakashi sighed again. "Fine, tomorrow I should be able to find out anyways…"

"What does tomorrow have to do with that, sensei?"

Kakashi flipped his hand to Sakura with a smile. "Oh, tomorrow we're going to do some survival training."

"But sensei, didn't we already go through that at the academy?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No, this time you're fighting for the survival of your shinobi career."

"WHAT!"

"Show up at the number seven training grounds tomorrow morning. Oh, and don't eat any breakfast, because if you do," Kakashi became dead serious, "you'll puke it right back up." With that, Kakashi turned to leave, but he was quickly called back.

"Hey," yelled Sasuke, "you never told us about yourself."

"Ah, of course. My name is Kakashi Hatake. Dreams for the future…? I guess I have a lot of hobbies. And of course, I won't give my specialty away either." He seemed to be taunting the gennin by refusing to give away any information about himself.

"So basically," thought both Sasuke and Sakura, "all we learned was…his name." Naruto, on the other hand, had learned plenty, and willingly voiced it.

"You have no real dreams of the future, so either you live in the past or the present," he stated quietly, startling his gennin teammates. "You refuse to give your hobbies, so you're either embarrassed about them or they take a personal point in your life, maybe both. You didn't want to give out your specialty, so you either don't have one or…" he pause for a moment, then rose and headed for the door before continuing. "Or you often feel the need to act immature, for your own reasons, of course. Maybe a missed childhood?"

Kakashi gazed at the back of the blonde's head. "How-?"

"Because," Naruto flattened out as he stood facing away from them in the doorway back into the academy, the wind playing with his hair, "because I feel the same way."

With that, Naruto vanished.

* * *

"…that kid is weird…"

Both Sakura and Sasuke felt a little exasperated at the jounin for such a blunt comment, but couldn't help but agree. Sakura, however, felt it pertinent to point something out to Kakashi.

"He wasn't always like this."

"…who?"

This time both Sakura and Sasuke did sweat drop. Was this guy for real?

"I was talking about Naruto, remember?"

"Hmm…"

"He wasn't always like this, he used to be so happy…" Sakura grinned slightly in remembrance. "He and Seiji were always getting in trouble during class, goofing off, pranking kids…but they were always laughing."

Kakashi's eye widened slightly, almost a simple twitch. Wasn't Seiji the kid who-?

Sakura continued with her story, interrupting Kakashi's train of thought. "They passed their classes, but just barely. They never really took anything seriously during those days, but near the middle of the year, just after mid exams, Seiji vanished. Just like that. Naruto seemed heartbroken…

Life went on, but Naruto just seemed to break away from the reality of things…" Sasuke nodded at the sentiment.

Kakashi was curious though. "Break away how?" He put down the curiosity to needing to know more about his team, although something at the back of his mind told him that wasn't true. The story was getting awfully familiar…

Sasuke finally decided to break in. "Look, we really don't know what happened, not that I care, but Naruto suddenly became a lot more serious. His studies improved from abysmal to passing in a short time, almost like he had it in him the whole time, he just needed a taste of reality to set him straight-"

"But his best friend just ran away!" Sakura blurted, glancing at Sasuke to see if she had offended him. "Just plain vanished! A few of us questioned Iruka-sensei," Sasuke snorted, "but he just told us to ask Naruto. And Naruto wouldn't tell us…"

"Of course he wouldn't," Kakashi pondered to himself, "it was kinda hard…" He paused at the look in Sakura's eyes.

"AH! Kakashi-sensei, you know what happened to Seiji, don't you?"

"Ne," Kakashi began to sweat, "why don't you ask Naruto?" With that, the silver haired jounin summoned a smoke screen and disappeared.

Sakura began to tremble, her pink hair obscuring her eyes from sight. Sasuke immediately winced, backing away quickly and covering his ears in anticipation…

"DAMN IT, KAKASHI!"

------------------

"Naruto!"

The blond gennin paused in his walk back to his apartment, turning to see whoever had called out his name. He sighed as he recognized his auburn haired former sensei. At least it wasn't an angry villager…

"What do you want, Iruka-sensei?"

"Why Naruto," Iruka chuckled, "if I didn't know any better, I would say you didn't want me around…"

"I don't," Naruto mumbled, not loud enough for Iruka to hear.

"So…" Iruka drew out, his tone becoming more serious, "what do you think of your new teammates?"

"It's Sasuke and Sakura, Iruka, what do you want me to think?"

"Well then what about your sensei?"

Naruto hesitated. "He's…different, yet familiar. I think…he may be worth it."

"Naruto!" Iruka declared, beaming, "I never thought I would hear you say that again."

"Stuff it, Iruka, or I might just take my opinion of you back."

Iruka grinned. Despite the threat, he knew that Naruto wouldn't take back his word. The boy had promised, and if there was anything he had learned about the blond gennin, it was that he never went back on a word. "So what are you doing tomorrow? Whatever it is, don't take it lightly. Kakashi hasn't allowed one team under his tutelage to pass."

For the first time in a while, Naruto grinned. Not a happy cheerful grin like what Iruka had heard about, but more of a sadistic grin, betraying what the boy had been thinking for a while. "Oh, don't worry. Kakashi doesn't know the meaning of confusion just yet…"

Then, using the peculiar threat almost like a goodbye, Naruto turned and continued on the way to his apartment, signaling obviously for Iruka not to follow.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura arrived to find Naruto had arrived ahead of her. Not that it really surprised her, but she had arrived at seven in the morning, (Damn Kakashi-sensei forgot to tell us when to meet!) and it looked like Naruto had been sitting there for hours.

What he was wearing also surprised her, a simple thinly fabricated tunic. A large pack lay on the ground beside him. Naruto himself was staring absently again, this time at the newly rising sun. Then Sakura did something that surprised both of them.

She lowered herself down onto the ground beside him and looked up at the sunrise as well. She felt the boy jump slightly at her close proximity, then to glance at her every now and then. She giggled at his awkwardness. He was almost beginning to resemble the way he acted before midterms.

She quickly stopped giggling, however, the moment Sasuke arrived. As quickly as she could, she rose and rushed over to him and began another long tirade about the beauty of the sunrise, and if he would like to watch it with her.

Sasuke grunted in what could be considered a yes, and Sakura quickly dragged him off to the other side of the grounds so they could be alone. Naruto sighed. With a couple of quick seals, he made a shadow clone and henged it into another form.

"I guess it's just us again…Seiji."

The clone stayed silent for a second, then smiled and dropped down next to the blond shinobi, its hands behind its head.

"Looks that way…"

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

Not sure how well that chapter came out, but it is unusually long for what I write…

Please voice out my mistakes so I don't make them again in later chapters. Now, next I would like to mention a couple of the reviews I got…

**_Melia_**: I'm not quite sure if you were serious… was that sarcasm?

**_Jamez:_** Not actually what I originally thought about, but you came very close to hitting the nail on the head…weird, I never really thought about it that way… Oh, and I took that phrase out of the summery on your advice.

It is still, however, not a self-insert.


	3. Team Seven 2

Three hours rolled by, everything moving in a revolving circle. Sakura would shout, Sasuke would pout, and Naruto would ignore it all. There was little to do while the gennin waited, and Naruto seemed to show a lazy side of himself.

The moment his two teammates left on their own, he stretched out in the grass besides the bunshin resembling his old friend Seiji. He found that in gazing silently at the sky, he could forget all of his problems, his worries. He found contentment for a while in the endless blue of the summer sky…

But that was all broken by a puff of smoke right before noon. Naruto glanced up in confirmation before tiredly dragging himself up and over to the pack he had brought along with him. He wrapped his fingers around the strap and sighed quietly before grunting and lifting it onto his back. He then trotted over to Kakashi for whatever there was in store.

Kakashi watched his approach in silence; a frown threatening to break out, not that anybody could see it behind his facemask.

"Where are your teammates? Didn't I tell you to arrive here?" Naruto nodded and thumbed over to where he thought the two had gone. Kakashi nodded. "I guess we can wait to see it they come back…"

Naruto gave a small grin before dropping the sack with a bang. A small cloud of dust rose up, almost as if to flee the bag's presence. The bag was huge, covered in enough pockets and drawstrings to hide a dead body. A pair of black Velcro straps crisscrossed over the top to hold it shut, while another lighter strap could be tossed over one shoulder to hold it up. Naruto quickly rejoined it on the ground, this time closing his eyes.

Kakashi almost frowned again at the boy's obvious lack of interest. Before he could question it, however, Naruto cut him off with a curt explanation.

"I'm resting for the upcoming spar."

The silver haired jounin felt himself sweat a little. "Ne, spar? When did I mention a spar?"

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at him almost in disbelief. "When you mentioned survival training, you obviously meant survival against you, right? Why else not to eat breakfast but to slow us down and distract us during a fight?"

Kakashi sweat dropped. "So you ate then?"

"…No. You told us not to."

Kakashi smiled a bit behind his mask. "I'm glad you think enough of me to actually follow my rules, especially that one. I think I'm actually starting to like you kids…"

Naruto grinned slightly to himself as well. "Starting to like us," he mused, "…I'm glad."

Kakashi resigned himself to waiting for a bit longer, its not like he was in any hurry. He leaned up against the tree, were Naruto lay nearby, and opened a book. A large X on the back cover stood out from the orange coloring. Naruto craned his neck to look at what his sensei was reading, before he began to chuckle.

"You're a pervert are you, Kakashi-Sensei?"

"Hnn, what's it to you?"

"Heh, heh, Seiji was a perv too, but he could never get his hands on one of those. The legendary Icha Icha Paradise book collection." Naruto looked up at the sky in reminiscence, his eyes shining in an almost prideful fashion. "He tried everything, but the store clerks wouldn't let him have a copy. They said he was too young. He said it was 'cus they were too busy jacking off to it in the back room themselves to let a poor deprived child have a whack at it…"

"Kid had good taste," Kakashi mumbled absently, before the words finally registered. "Poor deprived child? Why didn't I ever think of that?"

Naruto finally broke down. The memories of that incident were too much, and the way Kakashi had responded did him in. He clutched his sides and began to laugh. Quietly at first but it steadily grew louder until it became a set of full-grown guffaws. He rolled over onto his stomach as a faint stream of tears came from his eyes. It felt so good. He hadn't laughed in months.

Finally he began to calm, leaving a smiling yet slightly puzzled Kakashi nearby. _Who knew the kid could laugh?_

Naruto was silent for a moment before he turned to Kakashi. "I would like to start soon. Should we go look for the others?"

Kakashi stared lazily over at the brush of the surrounding forest. "Nah, here they are. Lets begin."

Naruto nodded curtly, re-shouldering his pack and facing Kakashi in and 'at ease' position. He stared silently at the two returning gennin as they pushed their way out of the brush and into the clearing. Sakura was chatting loudly with an under responsive Sasuke. They both froze when Kakashi cleared his throat, bringing their attention to him.

"Are we ready to start?"

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

"Mah, whatever, lets begin."

Kakashi revealed two silver bells that he had been holding in his gloves, shaking them so they tinkled in small resounding ringing noise, and tied them with a piece of red yarn to a loop on his pants. He laughed inwardly when he saw how Naruto eyed the bells with certain fascination.

"What do we have to do with a couple of bells, sensei?" inquired Sakura cautiously.

"In order to pass, you must steal one of these bells from me, in whatever fashion you choose."

"But there are only two bells…"

"Then I guess one of you will fail. If YOU want to pass, I suggest that you come at me with intent to kill," he smiled behind his mask. "I am a jounin after all. You have until noon, which I suspect will arrive soon. Loser fails and doesn't get lunch." He gave an absent wave of his hand. "Better get going…"

All three gennin promptly vanished, leaving a trail of disturbed air, wind whistling through the waving trees. Kakashi yawned. A faint cracking noise alerted him to the presence of one of the gennin.

"Already…?" he inquired, turning to face the challenger. He was faintly startled at the one that stepped quietly out of the shadows to meet his wary gaze. "…Sakura?"

True to his observation, a faintly smirking Sakura stood before him, readying a simple taijutsu stance. A wind blew around her bubblegum-pink hair, causing it to dance wildly about her face, generally blocking the view of her emerald eyes. She then, in turn, brushed the hair out of her eyes. "I need a bell, sensei…" she stated quietly, "and I intend to have one."

The girl's demeanor startled Kakashi. Was this really Sakura? If it was, he might have to change his opinion of her slightly. He reached for his kunai pouch.

Sakura reacted quicker than Kakashi thought possible. The moment his hand twitched, she exploded out of her stance, appearing almost instantaneously next to him, ready to strike.

Kakashi wasn't a jounin for nothing; he quickly shook himself of the initial shock and dodged a simple kick sent by the pink haired gennin. He was surprised again, however, when a second kick followed behind it quickly, almost fluidly. He was hard pressed to dodge again, but pulled it off flawlessly. He was, after all, one of the best.

The blows continued to rain, an intricate pattern of punches and kicks, barely avoidable at the speed and precision they were carried out. He was hesitant to block after Sakura missed a punch and landed it on a tree, her fist blowing right through the trunk. He was also trying to avoid striking back; she was only a gennin after all. He was stuck.

He felt as if he was involved in some kind of intricate dance, and grew more and more aware that he was being led, his steps predetermined. They danced through the clearing, back and forth in an almost erratic step, before the silver haired jounin was led straight into a trap.

He leaned back to avoid a simple axe kick, faintly feeling a taught wire on the back of his neck break. An instinct born of hundreds of battles told him to move, and he quickly obeyed. He twisted, but not fast enough. Dozens of shuriken burst through the foliage straight at him. Kakashi was still moving when they all caught him in the back, sending him tumbling forwards.

His body disappeared into a log.

_Replacement Jutsu_

Sakura cursed and vanished too.

* * *

Confusion is an awful thing. Almost the instant Sakura vanished from the clearing, she reappeared and dropped from the branches of a nearby tree. Kakashi, who had concealed himself in view of the grounds, watched Sakura's shocked face as she scanned the foliage.

She looked…confused. Like she saw something that she wasn't expecting. Like she saw a ghost…

Like she saw…herself…

Then it hit him. Maybe that wasn't Sakura; maybe he had been fighting one of the other gennin under the guise of a henge. If so, he put his money on Naruto. Sasuke didn't seem like one who would hide with the pretext of being somebody else… He would want his own credit.

The question soon became, not who, but why? Kakashi pondered this for a few minutes. Why would any of them change guise? And how? The concentration required to hold a proper henge along with the complex kantas preformed would have to be done by someone with either perfect control or bottomless stamina…

A rustle to the left of his location halted further thought. Kakashi peered silently out through a forest of leaves.

His view wasn't perfect, but a few shadowy shapes made themselves out. The first shape that he recognized was Sakura, who had moved further out and became harder to see. The second shape revealed itself to be…

Kakashi leaned forward a bit to clear his view of the interfering leaves, holding an upper branch with his right hand and shadowing this eyes with his left. The cool metal plate on his gloved hand pressed pleasantly against his forehead as he squinted. The blurry features of the distant face began to sharpen…

Finally he recognized the face. A smirking Sasuke…

"Why the hell are you laughing?" Kakashi pondered out loud.

"Because…" a whisper answered by his ear, causing him to whirl around in surprise, "Because of a plan that pulled itself together…"

Kakashi almost gaped as a stoic Naruto, crouching behind him, waved the pair of tinkling bells in his face before pulling them out of the danger of being swiped back. Naruto then lifted the two bells to his ear and gave them a firm shake.

Kakashi made to say something, but was quickly silenced by Naruto holding up his hand. "Did you know," he asked quietly, "it's said that every time a silver bell rings, an angel gets its wings?" He gave them another shake, letting the silvery twinkle hover in the air for a few more moments before he quickly leapt from the upper boughs back down to the clearing, strolling to return to his teammates.

Kakashi was in mild shock. How had that kid gotten so close to him? Why did he take both bells when he only needed one? And what did he mean by a plan? Were they all working together? Did they figure out the meaning of the exam? Had they succeeded where so many others had failed?

"Ah, forget it," he thought, "I'll just ask them."

* * *

Of course Sasuke had agreed to Naruto's plan, it was a win/win situation for him. The dark gennin had every right to smirk. Naruto had approached him directly, after the spar between Sakura and Kakashi had concluded in a tie.

His plan had been simple, and the only downside Sasuke could see was that he had to pass it on to the currently ignorant Sakura, who was at the time wandering perplexed through the clearing.

Sasuke was smart, one of the best of the year, so even he knew he stood no chance against the obviously powerful Kakashi outright, and every good chess player knew how to utilize a pawn. Naruto just happened to be a willing candidate…

No questions asked on how the blond would accomplish what he proposed, and its not like Sasuke cared if he did anyway. Fail and there was one less gennin for competition, succeed and both boys got a bell. There was no flaw, no time for second guessing anyways. To succeed it had to be implemented almost immediately.

The brunette left his hiding place and subtly made his way over to were Sakura had stopped, next to the previously toppled tree. She was staring at it intensely when Sasuke arrived and spoke quietly in her ear.

"Don't move, stay completely calm. I need you to listen to me…"

Sakura jumped discreetly, but ultimately obeyed as Sasuke passed the information on to her. However, instead of immediately carrying out her part, her green eyes lingered on the stump of the tree, previously having been destroyed by one of her stray punches.

"What's up with the tree, we need to move!"

"I…don't think I did that, or did I?"

"Hnn?"

"I mean, I saw myself fighting Kakashi, and she-I…umm…well, that was the person who knocked the tree over…furthermore-"

"Look, we need to move. We can think about this later. Come on."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun…"

Without further comment, both gennin moved quickly to the other end of the clearing, trying to do so without drawing too much attention to themselves. Kakashi couldn't suspect anything yet…

Not until Naruto got the bells…

* * *

Kakashi arrived at the meeting place of the tree examinees, nearby the three wooden poles jutting upward from the ground. He studied their faces. Sasuke looked triumphant, Sakura looked confused, and Naruto looked like, well, Naruto. His facial expression had yet to change.

"Alright," announced Kakashi as he stepped up, "Spill, what's up?"

"Well," started Naruto, surprising Kakashi, "Sasuke and Sakura both passed sensei." With a quick flick of his wrist, he tossed one bell to the smirking Sasuke, and the other to a surprised Sakura, who nearly dropped it by mistake. "I guess that means I failed."

"Wha?" cried Sakura. "We…we passed!" She smiled winningly, before the rest of his statement dawned on her. "And Naruto…failed? Why?"

"He didn't get a bell, Sakura," Sasuke stated calmly. "He can't pass without one."

"But he did all the work, didn't he?"

"Ne, no, no, Sakura, you and Sasuke held a more judgmental role. I simply grabbed the bells."

"But-"

"No buts Sakura. I failed. I guess I can try again next year…"

"Actually," Kakashi interrupted, "You're wrong."

"How so sensei?"

"Naruto can't try again next year. Since he didn't pass the exam, his nin-license has been officially revoked. He's not allowed to be a shinobi."

"What?" Naruto whispered, in dead shock. He had failed, so he couldn't be a ninja? His promise was already broken… "But I need to be a shinobi, Kakashi…"

"Well…" Kakashi drew out in thought. The boy had gotten them to work as a team, if not by common consent then by tricking them. "I suppose you can have one more chance, but you have to answer my question."

"…" Naruto waited for the question.

"Who was it that I was fighting earlier?"

"That was me," Naruto deadpanned. He said it in such a way that it seemed anybody who hadn't figured it out was either a moron or a complete idiot.

Kakashi nodded, "I thought so…well ok, you pass."

"Just like that?"

"You fought well Naruto, along with the subtlety you showed in order to approach me from behind and the strength to knock over that tree."

"…I never knocked over a tree."

Kakashi stared while Sakura slowly nodded, her hair bouncing as her nods became more feverish. "So the scorch marks-"

"An explosion tag. To make it look like I was strong and you wouldn't block and continue dodging."

The jounin nodded in understanding. "Clever, and how did you hold the henge?"

"…I never used a henge either."

"Then how-"

Naruto abruptly turned and plodded over to the forest, drawing his overly large pack out of the brush. He then opened it up and drew a few things out to show off its contents. "My disguise kit. A henge doesn't always work out, so it's useful to be proficient in other terms of hiding identity."

"But why pretend to be somebody else?"

"…So you would underestimate me. I needed you caught off guard."

"Ah…" this kid was smarter than he looked. He thought things through, and moved decisively. "One last question, why implement a plan after that good fight, then give both bells to the others?"

"…Like I said before, you needed to be off guard, and I lost that advantage. You are a jounin after all… And I gave the bells away because it seemed a little too self centered to suggest a plan, use both teammates help then leave one of them behind. It was my plan, if anybody needed to suffer because of it, that would be me…"

Kakashi smiled widely behind his mask. "Good answer. _A ninja that disobeys the rules is trash, but a ninja that leaves his friends behind is even worse trash._ You gennin may make me proud yet. Congratulations…Team 7."

* * *

_From the Desk of Tyr'll _

Sorry, but it always takes me a while to come out with new chapters…and the next my take longer...so much to do...

I hope that this one is up to standards; I wanted the exam to be a little original but stay ultimately the same. Only Naruto has changed, along with the others he has currently influenced.

One last note, I have no real definite pairings at the moment, but things will happen later. I can't help but write a little romance.

And there will be NO YAOI. I'm not really a fan of that. Well…maybe a little Gaara/Naruto, but only in reasonable amounts…but no gay pairings in my fic. No worries!


	4. Konohamaru, A name to remember?

"No." The statement was blunt, to the point. Naruto didn't mince words when he talked with most shinobi. "My picture is not to be taken."

"Look kid, you want a license? Then you have to have one of these," the photographer, already haggard looking with his thick black beard and slumping stature, began waving a small white card around in the air. "with YOUR picture on it!"

"No."

"Goddammit kid! You know what! Take it up with the Hokage! I give." The man folded his arms and gave a look just daring Naruto to take his advice.

The blond slowly rose from the seat at which he had been perched, refusing to have a photo taken, and slipped his hands down to his sides. The wind whipped through his hair as he calmly made his way to the stairs leading down from the rooftop. The bearded man screeched at him.

"Where the hell do you think you're going!"

"Gone," Naruto quipped back quietly, "you mean where have I gone."

"Damn bastard child! Check your fing grammar and go to hell!" The man proceeded to remove a kunai from his pouch, twirling it around hid index finger. "I can be the one to send you! Why the hell did I get stuck taking your picture!" The man stopped twirling his kunai, catching it between his two forefingers. "You're lucky your under protection, I'd get hung if I hurt you."

"Oh please, as if you could. I could tell from the beginning this would happen," Naruto turned, blue eyes smirking, "you weren't worth it."

The photographer snapped, dashing over to the blond gennin and pressing the kunai up against the soft neck flesh. "Oh how I wish-"

"What," snipped the blond, "afraid? I've already told you, you can't hurt me, because I'm not here."

"Sure as hell, you're right here! You want to die so much, let me obligate!"

The man's kunai tore through the boy's neck, spilling blood all over his hands. The man grinned in triumph. "Damn demon got what he deserved."

The blond keeled over, dropping to the ground with a shocked look on his face…

Then promptly disappearing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

"I can't see why you are so adamant about not having a picture on your registry, Naruto. Every nin has one."

"It's my trade," the boy answered quietly, his eyes cast downwards as he sat on a stool in front of the Sandaime Hokage. "My path has been chosen, and to say any one face is mine would be a lie I'm not willing to tell."

"To say…what do you mean?"

"I'm not Naruto anymore, Hokage-sama, I'm not anybody. I'm not just somebody either. From the moment I became a shinobi, I became nobody. To be somebody would be a hindrance, it would hold me back."

"Hmm…are you sure?" the Hokage looked doubtful, "It is a sad path to follow, being nobody. Most attempt it simply because they have no choice, they are already lost."

Naruto smiled sadly, bringing his eyes up slowly to stare up at the Hokage, "I've been gone a long time now, Hokage-sama. So long I've forgotten where I left my life line-"

YAAAAAAA!

The door leading to the Hokage's office burst open, revealing a young child, dressed in a yellow shirt and wearing a long blue woolen scarf, waving a kunai menacingly as he dashed towards the Hokage.

Naruto blinked and vanished, reappearing in front of the boy, his body tense and arm poised to smack the boy upside the head. However, right as he was about to swing…

The boy tripped on his scarf, smashing to the floor at Naruto's feet. The blond was anything but amused as the brown haired child picked himself up, grumbling about cheating old men using tricky bodyguards.

"Who tripped me?" The child yelled out, causing Naruto to wince.

So loud, he thought.

The child looked up, glaring at he blond gennin. "Bet it was you, you jerk! And I finally caught the old man off guard too!"

"Stupid brat," Naruto muttered, already feeling the effects of a headache approaching, as he trudged back over to his stool.

"Young master!" a voice cried in panic, giving Naruto a reason to glance behind him again. Wheezing from exertion, a middle age man with dark hair and a pair of tinted glasses stumbled into the room.

"…Good morning, does everybody want a chance to barge in on my talk with the Hokage? At least have the balls to get an appointment."

The man gasped, instantly alert, and quickly looked to the young boy. "Young master, what are you doing in a room with this…creature," he spat the word out, obviously substituting it for a more appropriate but less proper word in front of both the Hokage and the brat.

"Who," started Naruto slowly, raising his eyes for the first time to stare at the man in sunglasses, "the hell are you?"

"I am Ebisu, master tutor!" the man claimed proudly. "I teach the best, and right now the best is the Hokage's grandson, this," he pointed casually at the brat, "fine boy here."

"That brat," said Naruto slowly, "interrupted my hearing with the Hokage."

"Then good on him, you don't deserve a hearing anyways, with what you've probably done!"

"Yeah," squeaked the child, strutting up to the still completely passive Naruto, "whatcha going to do about it?"

Moving slowly, yet deliberately, the blond shinobi reached forwards and grasped the end of the long scarf the boy wore round around his neck. _He wouldn't,_ thought the Hokage's grandson, taking an involuntary step back, _he's just going to back off, just like all the others---_

With a quick yank of the scarf, the boy stumbled forwards, his face meeting Naruto's fist halfway. The boy flew back a good foot, watching what seemed to be fireflies wink at him.

He…hit…me… 

Ebisu gaped at the blatant display. "Young MASTER!" He rushed forwards to check the boy, dropping to his knees next to the prone figure. He then glared at Naruto. "You can't just do that to the Hokage's grandson!"

"He could be the mother of the Hokage for all I care. Those who deserve it should receive punishment for their actions." The still expressionless nin made his way across the wooden flooring, around the two on the ground, and stood next to the doorway. "I apologize for the hasty departure, Hokage-sama, but I am due to my training fields. May I schedule another meeting to conclude our discussion?"

"It shouldn't be necessary, Naruto," responded the third kindly, giving a soft smile to the departing teen. "Do as you wish."

Bowing his head, Naruto turned and walked quickly from the room.

* * *

Naruto exited the Hokage's tower quickly, moving at a rate of somebody with something in mind, seemingly absorbed in whatever it happened to be. His eyes half closed, the blond gennin held his arms close to his body while he moved through the crowds of villagers, ducking and weaving with such an ease and practiced art, he seemed to do it without thinking.

It was a very short span of time before sight of him was lost in the sea of people trading, conversing, and, in some cases, fighting. He traveled unnoticed by the villagers, keeping his distance from any major social areas.

Not long after Naruto, another figure exited the tower, the Hokage's grandson, running as fast as his short legs could carry him. The boy moved quickly to the middle of the crowd, perching himself on one of the many villager's packs to see over their heads.

"Where is he?" the boy muttered to himself as he scanned the faces of the villagers surrounding him.

"Where is who?" the brunette grandson jumped in surprise.

He had been sitting on _Naruto's_ pack!

* * *

"Ne, brat, what do you want?" The boy had lead him deep into the Konoha forest, straight to a small clearing surrounded by a multitude of small shrubs. A brief breeze flew through, rustling throughout the brush, almost like the sound of the surf on the beach.

Naruto closed his eyes as he felt the wind, listening contently to the leaves beating against one another. The simple sounds of the forest, completely reassuring in its ability to, even in silence, produce a wonderful sound. Without it…

"Oi! My name isn't brat!"

The blonde gennin sighed, running his hand smoothly through his hair. "Of course it isn't, but I don't know your name."

"My name," announced the boy, standing in full height and looking Naruto in the eye, "is Konohamaru, and don't you forget it!"

"Why not?"

"Wah!"

With a gaze of total seriousness, Naruto rolled his eyes to the heavens for an instant before returning them to the boy. "I forget names all the time, why should I remember yours?"

"Because…because I'm the Hokage's grandson!"

"Really? That changes nothing. There is no point for you to have a name. Right now, with no purpose, you're just 'O Honorable Grandson of the Third Hokage'. You can't honestly say," he continued after seeing how the boy flinched away from the title, "that you like it."

"…my grandfather, the Hokage, gave me my name so it wouldn't be forgotten."

"Hmm?"

"Konoha-maru, simple to remember, ne? It has the name of the village in it. Easy to say, but they…the villagers never use it…nobody uses it…I'm always just the grandson…never the important one…"

"But why?"

Konohamaru's eyes flashed up for an instant, a tiny tear droplets flying outwards. "I…"

He averted his eyes, "I don't know…"

"You haven't given them a reason. They have no reason to remember your name." Naruto looked square at the boy, sky blue eyes meeting dark brown, opposite yet the same. "If all you are to yourself is the grandson, then what else could you be the everybody else? You aren't special. You don't stand out."

"But…how-"

"How can you fix it? It's simple enough. Do you have a dream? You need to follow it, like a bee to nectar. Find a purpose and stand by it, no matter what it may be. Give yourself a reason to move, a reason to get out of the Third's shadow. Give everyone a reason to remember you."

"I…I want to be Hokage…like my grandfather…someone powerful…someone respected and remembered…"

Naruto smirked for a second before his face returned to being emotionless. "A lofty goal, what kind of Hokage?"

"Hmm?"

"You said you wanted to be strong, to be respected, ne? But what other traits would you have? Would you be kind or cruel, shady or truthful? Would you kill for the position, or take leave if it wasn't meant for you?"

Seeing the boy's confusion, Naruto strolled slowly to one of the quivering bushes surrounding them. It shook violently, although the wind had stopped. He knelt near to it, carefully extending his hand.

In a flash, a red blur of fur snapped out and buried fangs into the blonds open hand.

A fox…

Naruto grimaced, but didn't retract his hand as the fox ground its teeth deeper into the wound. "Just scared," he whispered, almost fondly. "He's scared of me…" He stared down at the fox, penetratingly constant. It was small, young, as well as a rare shade of dark red. The fox opened its eyes to stare back.

…

A moment passed as the two stared, almost like they were sizing each other up.

Slowly the fox released its hold on the gennin's hand, gaze still unwavering. Slowly it lowered it eyes to the bite wound. Then, as if to show remorse, it dragged its tongue over the marks, cleaning away the blood.

Konohamaru watched in wonder as the fox then jumped up and climbed the length of exposed arm to his shoulder, wrapping itself around the blue-eyed boy's neck. "Quite an affectionate one." Naruto remarked. He then turned back to Konohamaru, who was looking at him with something akin to astonishment in his eyes.

"This," Naruto started, "is probably like what achieving Hokage will be like. Pain is unavoidable, though through strength you can overcome it. However, strength isn't everything. Patience, will, trust…all of these are essential. Without them, you are just like any other shinobi out there. You aren't special. Consider all of those nameless shinobi you will meet, never knowing their names. You don't need to; it would be a waste of time to learn every enemy's name.

However, most have gone through everything you have. Their own academy, other missions, fights, training…so what separates you from the others? That is what you need to learn to be remembered. Learn what it is that makes you different. Learn what makes you special.

There are no shortcuts to this. Nobody can teach you everything, sometimes you just have to learn yourself…" With that, Naruto looked to the clouds and took a leap, vanishing in a burst of speed.

* * *

Sarutobi chuckled as he watched Ebisu enter the clearing soon after Naruto left. Konohamaru seemed to have acknowledged the boy's meaning, as Naruto did have a point.

"So…" the Third puffed, blowing a trail of smoke from his pipe and leaning back from his crystal ball, its view now cloudy. "You aren't as far gone as you would like us to believe, are you…

…Naruto?"

* * *

"Damn fox," Naruto mumbled as he unlocked the door to his ramshackle apartment, "shouldn't you leave already?"

As if to answer his question, said fox around is shoulders scrambled down and trotted into the apartment.

"…go ahead, make yourself at home…stupid animal…"

In contrast to his words, however, Naruto wore a tired smile. He entered the room after his chibi-sized Kitsune, closing the door behind him.

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

It may be off subject, but I have to wonder why I call this section, _From the 'Desk' of Tyr'll_. I never write any of this on a desk. Its always written on my computer…

Ah well…

Sorry for how long it took, as well as the length, somewhat. I though this would be a good place to stop for now, and as for the time it took…

Blame this huge ass project for English I have to do. Still doing it in fact.

Look forward to the next chapter, in which I break out of the cannon events some. So far it's been some events that I felt had to happen cannonly, but next comes a less normal branch of the story.

Next comes _Time to Travel, Mission to Weed Country!_


	5. Kakashi Decides, A team of three

The forest surrounding Konoha proved to be a peaceful place on most hot spring days, as cool breezes that flew through the boughs of the canopy would give a refreshing breath of life while the branches themselves provided shade and a good array of shadow. This array usually proves useful to the forest shinobi that live nearby, as was being proven by the currently working Team Seven.

"All right kids, are you ready for this?" Kakashi had hidden himself in the overhang of a large oak, pressing himself against the rough bark as he spoke into a small mike headset hooked to his ear. Once again his face, although hidden in the shadows and covered by his formfitting mask, was one of complete seriousness. He never took a mission lightly.

"Ready," replied Sasuke, glancing around the tree that hid him. "Target in sight…"

"Ready!" replied Sakura strongly, as she peeked out of the bush that concealed her. "There's no way the Target will get past me!"

Kakashi paused for a moment. "…Naruto, are you in position?"

"…got it." The blond replied in obvious boredom.

Kakashi's eye gleamed. "Good! Sasuke, MOVE!"

"No," Naruto hastily tried to interrupt, "I mean-"

Sasuke moved quickly, ignoring the blonde's hesitation. He leapt out from behind the tree and dove for the last place the Target had been seen resting. He needed the element of surprise. "Lets just get this over with, idiot!"

"No, Sasuke!" Sakura cried, diving away from her post, "He means he-"

WHAM!

The dark haired gennin ran into a hidden low hanging branch as he attempted to see what had caused Sakura to leave her position. Clothes-lined across the neck by a tree, Sasuke fell to the forest floor, attempting to at least catch himself gracefully.

He landed on his ass.

The boy cursed as Sakura rushed to his side, completely forgetting the parameters of the mission. "SASUKE-KUN!" Sakura's emerald eyes watered in feeling of the pain Sasuke had just experienced.

Sasuke coughed as he massaged his bruised throat. He then turned to glare at his third teammate. "What the hell was that for, idiot!"

Naruto stared blankly at the injured shinobi before replying quietly, "Sorry, I meant I have the cat already…" He then lifted his arm to show a gently purring orange tabby, its eyes closed serenely in contentment.

Sasuke felt his anger rising, but found himself unable to voice it. His throat was still sore…

"Why didn't you stick to the plan, Naruto?" Kakashi had dropped from the canopy to see Sakura kneeling beside a fallen Sasuke, who seemed to be nursing a tender throat, and an impassive Naruto with the Target, the orange cat.

"I'm good with animals," the blond replied. "Thought I could coax it without scaring the shit out of it…"

"Why didn't you tell us that before?"

"…" Naruto shrugged lightly. The silver haired jounin sighed, but could feel the corner of his mouth upturning. The boy may be annoying sometimes, but…

…it sure brought back memories of himself.

Kakashi rolled his eyes to the sky once more before ultimately returning them to his team and grinning at them, although they couldn't see his expression.

"Ne, I would say this mission is completed. Lets report in."

* * *

"Mission complete, Hokage-sama."

"Ah, very well Kakashi. I assume you would like another assignment…" The silver haired jounin tipped his head slightly in acknowledgement. The Hokage then brought his pipe to his mouth and inhaled deeply, allowing the smoke to swell around him. "Hn…Kakashi, is your team progressing well?"

Kakashi nodded again, before replying, "Yes sir, they have preformed well together, although there is definite need for improvement…" His uncovered eye swept slowly across each of the faces of his students.

"Hn…" breathed the Hokage, releasing yet another swirl of silvery smoke. "As for your mission, I do have another D class you could take care of…"

Naruto shuddered, taking a tentative step forwards, audibly clearing his throat. "Hokage-sama," he started, feeling the weight of his teams incredulous stares, "I believe our team is ready for so much more. Please allow us a chance to prove it," he pleaded, bowing his head. "Perhaps a C class mission…"

"A C class mission, those may not be hard to come by, but that is a quite a step for a gennin team so early in its stages…"

"Please."

"Hmm…" mumbled the Hokage. _The team has been doing well, and if Kakashi says their ready… _Turning to the other two children, the Hokage asked them, "Mm, do you two feel the same way?"

_If Naruto proposed it, he must really want to do this_, thought Sakura. _He never proposes anything…It couldn't hurt to try one. Besides, we have Kakashi-sensei to help us…_ Glancing in Kakashi's direction, she felt her confidence in him plummet. He was still reading his porn, even while the vital discussion took place. _I wonder,_ she thought, _if he is really even that good of a ninja._

Sakura tentatively rose her hand up. After all, she still had Sasuke to protect her if anything went wrong. "I think we can…handle it…"

_Come on, Sakura_, thought Kakashi from behind his book, _at least sound a little confident._

"Hmph, I think we're ready too," Sasuke nodded respectfully.

The Hokage grinned for a moment before once again becoming totally serious. "Well, okay, I believe we may have something for you." Shuffling through the mission scrolls, he pulled out one with a 'C' label. "A simple escort mission to Wave Country."

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi interrupted smoothly, "I request more time to train my students before they will be ready for any C class mission."

"Whaat!" the gennins all thought as one, "more time?"

"Hn, how much time?"

"Maybe an hour, maybe a day…"

The Hokage paused to think it over. Closing his eyes he inhaled deeply then exhaled a cloud of smoke. "Granted, Kakashi, that when you finish this session of training, there remains a C class mission for your team to take," the Hokage smiled warmly at the gennin team, "you will be allowed one to test your progress as you wish."

Naruto bowed once again before the Hokage. "Thank you, Hokage-sama." He then turned and took his place between his teammates again. The Hokage continued to smile as he waved them out of his office.

The team filed out the door, followed lastly by Kakashi, who turned and gave a wide smile from under his mask in the Hokage's direction.

"I believe they are ready," he said quietly before disappearing behind the closed door.

_Don't worry Kakashi,_ the Hokage thought, _there will be a C class mission waiting for your team when they return…_ Sighing, he then turned to the silent chunnin that had been standing in the corner, ready to carry out his orders.

"Bring in another team," the Hokage ordered, "this Wave country mission seems easy enough. We don't want to keep the bridge builder waiting too long…"

* * *

Kakashi could feel the tension in the air as he led his team back to their training area in his usual lazy pace. He could understand their impatience, their urge to shoulder a little more responsibility. He had felt the same way when he was a gennin, after his first experiences with the humble D rank missions.

Honestly, he was all for the team learning from its own mistakes, just like he had. If they were able to weasel a C rank mission from the Hokage, then they deserved it. He had seen their performances during the routine practices and the kind of skills they exhibited during their missions.

What they lacked wasn't skill or potential. They lacked experience.

Experience was an important tool in shinobi work, providing answers to dilemmas of all kinds, helping to read the enemy. And frankly, this was the best time for them to get that experience, when he was there to see that they didn't die doing so.

_Throw a child into a pond_, thought Kakashi,_ and if its sink or swim, if he can swim, he will. If he doesn't…_

The silver haired jounin turned to gaze at his young charges. Each had an expression of distaste on their faces. They were just itching to get this session over with.

_Throw a child into a pond, and if he doesn't swim…_

_**He probably wasn't worth the effort of teaching.**_

Kakashi stopped in the middle of the training fields, facing away from his team as he kept form turning. The gennin stopped as well, remaining at a distance as they felt the wind blow through the trees.

"All right team…" Kakashi called out behind him, "this will be your last exercise before the mission-"

"Come on, Sensei!" Sakura interrupted, her face read confusion. Kakashi was rarely this serious. "We can take anything with Sasuke on our team! And Naruto isn't a pushover either…" she added silently.

"LET ME FINISH!" thundered Kakashi, without turning, his posture beginning to slack. "This will be your most essential exercise to date…As of now we have a total of four comrades, including myself." Kakashi straightened his posture slowly, his resolve at something strengthening. "We need to lose a teammate."

"What!" they all cried at once, "one of us needs to quit!"

"No," Kakashi answered quietly, "you all have too much knowledge of each other and our team to just quit…

One of you needs to die."

Kakashi waited, taking their stunned silence as understanding. "You all have until tomorrow to think about it. Regulations state, by tomorrow at noon, one of you needs to be dead. How and who you choose is up to you."

The gennin just stared at their instructors back, trying to process the information. The man just couldn't be serious…

Finally Kakashi turned, his single eye glistening with unshed tears.

"I'm sorry," and then he left them, alone in the woods to plot one of their teammate's, one of their friend's, demise.

"Was he…crying?"

"I think he was serious."

* * *

The Hokage sat in audience, listening closely to the man standing in front of him. The man was small, with round head and a crooked nose. His hair was combed neatly to the side, and his clothes, simple robes, were neatly pressed. Not at all handsome, but a presentable man.

His eyes though, were narrowed, though the pupils were large. He stared at the Hokage, pleading his problem.

"You want us to do an extermination?" the Hokage asked incredulously.

"Yes," the man replied. "Of a most dangerous vampire, one whom has been terrorizing our merchants and our children. We wish him gone and are willing to pay."

The Hokage sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What village did you say you were from?"

"I come to you as a representative of the whole of Weed Country. We beg for your assistance." The man threw himself to the floor, bowing low before the Hokage.

"I wish we could help, but we do not usually take missions that have to do with exorcisms-"

"Hokage-sama!"

The Hokage looked up to see an approaching guard with a sealed scroll, a message. Taking it, the Sandaime quickly looked through its contents. He smiled at whatever was written before returning his attention to the representative before him.

"Like I said, we do not usually take on missions like this, but there has been an exception this time. Tomorrow at noon, you will have your answer. If you are indeed in need of assistance…pray for your future team." The Hokage turned, gesturing that the man could leave before muttering to himself, "they're going to need it…"

* * *

The gennin of Team 7 sat apart from each other, each with their own thoughts. None of them rushed to any conclusions, after all, this decision could affect their whole future…

And besides, they had all night to think about it.

* * *

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

Well, that went differently then planned…

Strange how things like that happen, and I'm sure you're all looking forward to the Weed Country mission, right? I personally really want to write about it, but this stuff has to be done first. I don't want to write a 'quick fic'. I'm trying to move at a slower pace, depicting the characters and letting you draw your own conclusions about them.

And no, this will not be one of those wimpy 'bitten by a vampire, wats he gonna do?' fics. The plot of the mission has been planned out, and I guess it is kinda like a spin off of Bird Country, to an extent.

I got ideas, but more are always welcome…although I am running out of room for future OCs. I never tire of thinking those up.

Review me with any questions, 'kay? Look forward to the next chapter, which will be coming out…whenever I write it.


	6. The Final Team Make Up

The sky darkening, a strong warm wind began to blow, paddling though the sea of trees in the Konoha forest. Little could be heard over the whistling of the leaves and the booming thunder that foretold a storm, but even that little…

…was being steadily tracked by a dark young gennin.

Sasuke stopped to listen intently to the surrounding forest. He leaned toward a young sycamore, pressing his hand up to the bark and closing his eyes softly. He listened, scanned for any sound out of the ordinary in the incoming storm. He could distinguish little and thus berated himself for his lack of training in adverse weather.

Concentrating harder, he began to repeat his goal in his mind, hoping it would help him focus.

_I will find him. Then I'm going to kill him. _

Repeating it to himself, Sasuke found that with the mantra successfully keeping his subconscious thought in check, it was easier to distinguish the sounds around him. The rustling of the nearby brush, the cracking of the branches that strained under the force of the their leafy weights…

…Then! He heard it. The sound of a crack out of place. A single mistake. Naruto had to be nearby. That blonde was good at stealth, but he wasn't perfect.

With a flick of his wrist, he threw a kunai in the direction of the wayward crack and followed quickly after it, vanishing from untrained eyesight with a burst of speed. His own eyes darted back and forth as he ran, watching carefully for the light haired nin.

Finally he sighted the culprit, laying back about a foot from his embedded kunai. Sasuke flipped and planted his feet in a horizontal crouch on a nearby tree, reappearing in normal sight. He looked carefully at the figure lying on the ground in front of him before gravity commanded he drop from his awkward position.

"Sakura…" Sakura was indeed the one lying near the thrown projectile.

"Sasuke!" she cried, leaping up from her position. "You scared me. Did you-"

"Stop," Sasuke interrupted forcefully, "Are you really Sakura?"

"…right, I forgot." The pink haired nin quickly raised her left hand and bit down onto her thumb, drawing a drop of blood which she then drew an X with across her right palm.

Sasuke watched carefully as the girl flinched at the brief pain and studied the mark she made. He then nodded. "A ninja shouldn't be scared so easily."

Sakura shuddered under the boy's unflinching gaze. "I know, I'm sorry…"

"Tch, whatever," he turned so his back was now facing the where Sakura stood. "Have you seen him?"

"Might have…" With inhuman speed, Sakura moved towards Sasuke's unprotected back, bringing her hand up and wrapping it around his neck. She then applied enough pressure to knock the dark haired genius unconscious.

Sasuke smirked for a second before vanishing in a puff of smoke, leaving Sakura holding a strangely shaped stump. "Substitution," she mumbled.

"I found you," the real Sasuke announced from a nearby treetop, where he stood with the moonlight framing his figure. "I found you Naruto…

and now I'm going to kill you."

* * *

"Ne, Sasuke…that hurt," Naruto remarked blandly as he sat between a fuming Sasuke and a slightly worried Sakura. Sasuke's face remained impassive, but he continually refused to look in the blonde's direction, earning a worried look from the fidgeting kunoichi. "How was I supposed to know all you thought of to prove your identity was a password?"

"Well, why the hell did you make up such a sadistic sign if you had no idea what we were using? And what kind of game was that, running around in the forest while getting rained on? In the middle of the night!"

"Yeah, Naruto, where did you come up with this idea?"

"It was training, wasn't it?" remarked a confused blonde. "You both said that you needed some time to think about what Kakashi said, didn't this help clear your minds?"

"NO!" his two teammates shouted simultaneously.

"Look Naruto," started Sakura, leaning her forehead on the tips of her fingers and closing her eyes, "training can help to clear your mind, but normally people feel it easier doing something they've already practiced extensively, so that they don't have to think when they train. This allows them to open their minds to other subjects and still work their bodies at the same time."

"Ah, I'm sorry."

"SORRY!" they both cried again. "We were playing that silly game for hours, and we still have yet to decide on who should…you know…"

"Die," Sasuke filled in.

"Yeah, that…"

Naruto stood, drawing the eyes of both his teammates to himself as he strode easily over to the nearest tree, leaping into the boughs and making himself comfortable. "Ja, well you two have fun deciding whom to kill. I think I could use a nap after all that exercise." He then closed his eyes and pulled his forehead protector over them, effectively shutting out all the light from the shining full moon.

Sasuke twitched. "That's it, I know who I'm voting for."

"Sasuke, that's terrible! Isn't it a little callous to Naruto…?"

"Who said I was talking about Naruto?"

Sakura's eyes widened as she drew her hand over her mouth to stifle a sharp intake of breath. Sasuke was totally serious in tone. But he wouldn't do that to her…

Would he?

* * *

Time moved slowly by as the three teammates drifted farther apart from each other, each seeking a private thinking hole. Sakura found herself lying under a rather thorny bush, positioned on her back, just low enough to comfortably avoid any undue pricking.

As she lay there, her brilliant pink hair covered the ground underneath her, spread as if imitating a small rug. Her emerald eyes were staring, glazed over, at the fragments of sky that could be seen through the bush.

Morning was coming, as the cool colors of the sunrise washed over the sky. The night shower had ended some time ago, leaving the ground soggy, but not uncomfortable, and the trees glistening with brilliant rainbows of colors.

The color and beauty of the situation, however, was lost to the girl as her mind was occupied in a struggle against itself, a struggle of desire versus decency and honesty.

_How could he do this?_ She thought, inwardly fuming. _Is Kakashi-sensei really going to leave one of us out to dry? Do we really have to…kill one of our own? It goes against shinobi standards, against what we've been told, and against logic! It makes no sense._

_But even so, we were given orders, and our sensei seemed sincere. If one of us has to die, of course I would pick Naruto! He is nice and all, but I couldn't kill Sasuke…_

…_but even Naruto, I don't think I could kill him either. Not in cold blood, not when he's stated how much he really wanted to be a shinobi, for whatever reason. I couldn't kill a dream like that…_

_But if I can't choose one or the other, then what do I do?_ Sakura began to shake silently. _We need to; we have to loose a member. I have to choose one. The perfect boy, whom I've loved for years, or the boy whose dream it was to be a ninja, who seemingly devotes every waking minute to it…_

The pink haired kunoichi closed her eyes while her thoughts struggled, a single tear running down the side of her face as she fought herself.

_Dear god,_ she thought desperately, _what do I do?_

* * *

As dreaded as it was, noon came seemingly faster than any of the gennin would have liked. As the sun reached its highest point in the sky, the young students of Kakashi gathered together around the center of their training area, a small clearing consisting of three wooden posts wedged firmly in the ground, all side by side in a straight line.

All approached at the same time, walking as slowly as they could to the final place of decision, each approaching from a different direction, forming a slowly dilating triangle around the center post. Shadows at their feet were almost nonexistent in the noon sky.

They all continued to move slowly towards the center, until, as if by an unseen signal, they each stopped a good three meters away from the post. Then they waited, without speaking, for the arrival of their sensei.

For once, they didn't have to wait. A smokescreen rose from the ground in a small cloud, covering the upper portion of the center pole from view. When it dissipated, the silver haired Kakashi stood atop it in a slouched posture, his uncovered eye closed, facing no student in particular. His back, however, was displayed broadly to the disimpassioned Sakura.

Her face was pale and her eyes unfocused as she stared blankly at the ground in front of her.

Naruto stood with his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes closed, as if ready to accept punishment.

Sasuke stood with his face held high and arms at his sides. As a shinobi, he was not willing to do anything with regret.

All was silent as the three students stood by their teacher, awaiting his acknowledgement. The seconds ticked by, before Kakashi finally spoke.

"I see you are all alive. I thought I had instructed that there be one less face to greet me at this time today." He spoke calmly, his voice steady but with a hint of disapproval hidden within. "I'm willing to overlook it, however, as long as one of you is gone in the next five minutes. Otherwise…" With that he left the statement hanging.

The three gennin faced each other, tensing for a fight. They each stared at the others, waiting for whatever signal there was for their fight.

Sasuke was the first to back down. "I refuse, to kill either one of you in cold blood would be exactly what he would have wanted me to do. I would be taking one more step to becoming like the person I hate."

Naruto followed, relaxing from his stance. "I too, was unable to choose. To kill either of you would be against what I believe is right. It doesn't feel right to me…"

"Kakashi," Naruto continued, "I know that you ordered us to exterminate on of our own, but if I were to leave the village, to become a homeless nin, would that suffice? Would that-"

"Stop it, both of you."

Both Naruto and Sasuke turned a curious eye to Sakura, wondering what she had meant by that.

"Stop acting like a hero, Naruto. You can't do everything alone." Sakura's eyes were hidden from the duo as she spoke. "We all know how much being a ninja means to you, and how much you want to stay here. Sasuke can't die or quit either. I wouldn't let him. I love him.

As much as I hate to say it, I don't think I could be half the nin you two will grow to be. I don't have the determination or the will. I don't have the strength or the skill. I've just got my smarts." She giggled for a second as she visualized what she meant by gently knocking herself against the head.

"I'm nothing compared to you two though. So I've made my decision…

_I nominate **myself**."_

Both boys were shocked, clearly showing it by their faces. Mouths wide they tried to object. But Sakura wouldn't have any of it.

"Please you two," she pleaded them, "for once let me make the right decision."

They both stared for a moment longer before Naruto nodded, followed soon by Sasuke. Then in unison they both declared,

"We agree to the nomination."

A gentle clapping was heard after their announcement. All three turned to look at their sensei, whose single showing eye was closed in merriment.

"Well, what do you know? You three passed."

Three.

Two.

One…

"WHAAAT!"

"It was a test, and you three passed, thanks to Sakura. The idea was for at least one person to sacrifice themselves for the team. Kind of a…make it or break it test."

"B-but! You seemed so sincere when you announced it! YOU EVEN CRIED!"

"Ah, the miracle of eye drops. They really do make a performance believable, don't they?"

"Oh, that's a good one," mumbled Naruto as he jotted down the idea in a small booklet. "Remember to add tear drops to disguise kit…"

"DON'T TAKE NOTES!"

"Sorry."

* * *

Sakura stood by herself, still shocked by the afternoon's events. She really had been prepared to die for those two, just like that…

It scared her, knowing that she could have died by her own choice.

She sat by herself, thinking as her long hair floated lazily in the breeze. She stared into nothingness as she thought, jumping as the sound of a ninja smokescreen filled her ears.

Whirling around, she found the image of her sensei standing nonchalantly behind her.

"Yo."

She stared at him, without comprehension. He smiled at her confusion and voiced what he came to say.

"Good job Sakura. I'm proud of your choice."

With that, he vanished again, leaving behind a small sticky not attached to her forehead.

Sakura sat for a moment more, thinking about what he had said. He was proud or her decision? To what, basically kill herself? No, it had to be something else.

…But whatever, the note on her forehead was begging to be read. She slowly peeled it off and read it.

_Congrats! You all got your first C class mission. Meet me at the Hokage tower tomorrow morning to get the mission._

_P.S. Could you let your teammates know too? Thanks!_

Sakura stared. As well as the post script there was a small drawing of a chibi-Kakashi doing a dance. And it looked so cute…

Sakura smiled to herself before standing, wondering how she was to get the information to the others.

"Sakura."

_Well,_ she thought, _that was easier than expected._

The pink haired girl spun around to find both her teammates looking at her with disapproval in their eyes. She was surprised to see that emotion there.

"Don't do that again." Sasuke was the first to speak. _Right to the point._

"Agreed, please don't think so lowly of yourself." _Naruto…_ "We all have our strengths and weaknesses. You just have to learn how to use them."

"You mean…you guys care?"

Now it was the others turn to look surprised. Then Naruto smiled. "Of course we do. Why else would I stick around?"

With that they all turned to leave again, almost instinctively going to eat. After all, it had been almost a whole day since the last time. As they were leaving the clearing, Sakura remembered to fill them in on the information from the sticky tab their sensei had left behind.

Unknown to them, however, the sensei himself watched from the foliage above, a covered grin adorning his face as he chucked to himself.

"Well, what do you know, throw these kids into a lake, and they not only swim, they sail."

With that, there was a swirl of leaves and the clearing became empty for the first time that day.

* * *

_From the Desk of Tyr'll _

I guess I can apologize for my procrastination in getting this done, but I was having a hard time coming up with a plausible ending. And I still think I didn't really get it right… I am just so looking forward to writing about the weed country mission, though.

All my own design too. Lots of Ocs to be introduced and plenty of strange plots. The next chapter should be the first chapter I truly move away from any known events in the Narutoverse.

I'm so excited, but still…don't get your hopes too high up for a quick update. I always mean to but something comes up.

Like sleep…


	7. Life on the road, Three days of travel

Though outwardly Sasuke showed no emotion, he could almost feel the accomplishment swelling inside of him. Provided, the mission specifics were a little disappointing, it was a C rank mission and if successfully completed while this young in his shinobi career, would place a definite foothold in advancement.

Thus putting him one step closer to the goal that had been set for him.

It came as no surprise to the stoic gennin when his thoughts turned to his life mission as he approached the Great Gate of Konoha. This mission would be a springboard for his future and he had no intention of ever forgetting his reason for existence. The reason why he lived.

He would never forget the one who slaughtered his family. The man that massacred them all without remorse, save himself, with no pity.

The one who killed Sasuke's own parents in front of him, blood gleaming off the dark robes he wore, pooling on the ground, around the boy's parents. What had happened next Sasuke would remember for the rest of his waking days, driving him to the point of insanity.

_Sasuke had stepped into the foyer in time to see that shadow of a man pause before delivering the final stroke to kill his father. He watched in horror, tormented by the fact he could to nothing, too scared to even try._

_Pausing in his activity, the murderer slowly swept his gaze across the room, making direct eye contact with the young Sasuke. _

_Those eyes…_

_Hauntingly empty eyes, dyed the color of blood, met the fearful eyes of the child who had just walked in to find his parents being killed._

_The link between the two sets of eyes didn't break as the man gracefully slit the throat of the boy's father, the boy himself making no move to stop him._

_Sasuke felt rooted to the ground in fear, he couldn't move at all, when everything quickly changed. The world around him bled away, leaving only him and those terrible eyes, which then slowly began to revolve._

_Now feeling weightless, Sasuke was unable to tear his gaze away from those eyes, watching in his peripheral vision as the world around him began to come back into focus. The eyes then faded away, leaving him alone._

_Then he saw them. The boy almost cried out in joy as he saw his parents alive again, walking slowly towards him, a dark shadow following them closely._

_Sasuke tried to call out, to warn them of the darkness that followed them, but his throat refused to open. He then noticed that his hands and feet felt ridiculously heavy, burdened to the point where he couldn't move a finger as he watched the darkness overtake his parents and kill them once again._

_He tried to turn away, but couldn't move; tried shutting his eyes, but it was as if his eyelids were transparent. He was forced to watch it all._

_Then, as the final blow was struck, the picture faded again, returning to the vision of his parents walking towards him once again, being followed by the shadow of a murderer._

_And Sasuke heard it._

"_For the next 72 hours, you will watch as they are killed, over and over again. You are too weak to kill, not worth the effort. Train, train and become stronger than me. Train yourself to kill me. Train for revenge._

_Foolish little brother…"_

* * *

Sakura sighed as she and her team passed through the Konoha gates. Their first C rank mission, and the whole thing was a sham!

The Hokage had explained it rather simply. Though usually hidden villages shied away from taking these kinds of missions, apparently diplomatic reasons required them to try. It was totally ridiculous.

_I mean, come on,_ she thought to herself_, an exorcism? It's amazing what superstition can do to the views the public has on phenomenon they can't explain._

"Kakashi-sensei, you don't really believe there's a such thing as a vampire, do you?"

"Well, if there's one thing I've learned though most of my life, what I believe in, and what tends to happen, are two very different things."

"You aren't saying you've actually seen a vampire, are you?"

Kakashi chucked nervously, "I really haven't."

"THEN WHAT ARE WE GOING TO EXORCISE?"

"Hm," Kakashi pondered to himself, "Well, we really don't know what could be causing these disappearances, so it could be most anything. Kidnappings seem most likely, though, because in a few cases people reported signs of a struggle….

There really isn't much to go on right now, as you pointed out so we'll just have to wait until we arrive at Weed Country to see." Sakura glared at her offending sensei. He seemed to be mocking her with some tidbit of information he knew, but wouldn't share.

But really, what was the good of accepting a mission that you gave you no specific goal?

As if reading her mind, however, Kakashi added a final comment.

"Since the goal is exorcism, it seems we do what makes the populace happy enough to stop calling the disappearances the work of a vampire."

"Which basically means," added Sasuke, finally bringing himself into the conversation, "we have to figure out what's going on to figure out our mission."

"Those are really loose parameters…" Sakura mumbled to herself.

"Idiot, why do you think this is a C ranked mission? We can't and won't be spoon fed what to do for the rest of out lives, like we are in a D ranked mission."

Sakura looked back in surprise at Naruto, who was walking a good length behind the group. He seemed…vacant today, staring out into space as he walked at a just-quick-enough relaxed speed. The way his eyes were out of focus seemed like he was simply enjoying the scenery.

"Why are you all the way back there, Naruto? Aren't you going to come walk up here with us?"

"I'm the rear guard."

"Rear guard?"

Naruto nodded, continuing as if she hadn't included a questioning tone in her comment. Sakura shrugged, turning and reengaging in conversation. After all, this is Naruto; he never seemed to have too many reasons to be cautious…

* * *

As darkness finally fell on the traveling foursome, Kakashi stopped and clapped his hands, signaling the others to stop. He then gestured to the thinning woodland around them.

"All right team, time to set up camp for the night."

Relieved that the walking was over, the three gennin found themselves a comfortable spot on the ground to hole up for the night. Naturally, Sakura found a spot close to Sasuke's, while Naruto positioned himself in the lower boughs of a nearby tree.

Soon, though, the whole team was circled around a small campfire, eating some of what little they packed for the trip.

"Kakashi-sensei, how long will it take to get to the country of Weed?"

The silver haired sensei pondered the question for a bit. "Hn, I actually haven't visited Weed before, but it is relatively close by Bird Country. I suppose, two days until we arrive at their borders."

"Weed Country isn't that large, is it? It wasn't even featured in our standard issue maps."

"Mah, I think that's just because it's newly founded, but you're right. It is a small country."

After eating, each member of the team slowly drifted back to his or her assigned sleeping spots, finally leaving only Naruto sitting and gazing into the fire.

* * *

Kakashi woke early to find an already awake Naruto tending to the fire. Surprised but ultimately placing it at the back of his mind, he got the other two members of the team up and they had a light breakfast before heading out once more.

The day went on much like the first, and everybody voted to skip stopping for lunch in favor of eating on the go. Sakura carried on some meaningless conversation with both Sasuke and Kakashi to pass the time, but as much as she tried, Naruto remained in rear guard and refused to speak much.

It wasn't until they stopped for the second night that she noticed his rather sluggish walking. She inquired about it but was repelled by his evasive answers.

"No really, I just didn't sleep well last night," he had assured her. "I still have to get the feel of sleeping on the ground instead of in a bed."

"Yeah, I know. My back bothered me for most of the morning…"

"…Sakura you slept on a rock, just so you could be a little bit closer to Sasuke, remember?"

"It…it wasn't that bad…" Her face flushed red as his scrutiny. He shrugged.

"Whatever…"

Once again, everybody drifted off to sleep, leaving Naruto sitting nearby the still warm fire, staring into the flickering flames.

His eyes drooped a bit, but he straightened himself up and refused to return to his pre-picked branch as he slunk around his sleeping team and into the woodland.

* * *

Once again Kakashi awoke to find Naruto already awake and tending to the fire. His suspicions were aroused, however, when he saw how the boy carried himself when he walked over to his pack to retrieve breakfast.

Years of working as an elite jounin had given him the perception to tell when somebody was exhausted but faking being wide awake. Such knowledge was very important when leading a team for long journeys or watching them fight in battle.

Apparently the boy wasn't getting enough sleep, but why? This was perturbed the jounin. He himself had awoken a few times during the night for use of the bathroom, but had seen the fire out and assumed the gennin asleep.

Had he been wrong? Had Naruto been out doing some late night training?

Well, whatever it was could cause him to be a hindrance in the near future, and needed to stop. However, things weren't that easy.

"Where were you last night, Naruto?"

"Hn?"

"You weren't in your tree, and you seem tired this morning."

"Nature called and couldn't sleep."

"Really?"

"Hn."

It seemed like Naruto was refusing to tell, but the boy did need some rest. The team started out again on their journey.

Soon even Sasuke was aware of Naruto's condition, but none of them were giving any signs that they knew. All three kept quiet about it until lunchtime.

"How about we stop here for lunch?" Kakashi suggested, motioning to the others. "We can spare the time as we're due to arrive soon, but aren't expected until tomorrow afternoon."

The gennin all agreed, sitting down to eat their lunches.

Naruto sat in the shade of a nearby tree, feeling the nice cool breezes that floated through occasionally and watching the clouds that traveled lazily by.

_Such a nice day,_ he thought as his eyelids drooped a bit_, and Kakashi did find a nice…place to eat…at…_

The rest of the team watched quietly as the blond shinobi dozed off in the sun. When he finally fell full asleep, they began to talk in somewhat hushed tones.

"It looks like he's staying awake all night. That can't be good for his health."

"Hn. I don't really care, but I do wonder…"

"If this keeps up, it could cause later problems to come up. However, since he won't tell us and none of us really know what he's doing, one of us is going to have to stay up tonight to see what he does…"

In the end, Sakura was volunteered to stay up with the boy to see when he would leave and what he would do.

That decided, the team turned to wake Naruto and found…

He wouldn't wake up. Naruto turned out to be a very heavy sleeper, and try as they might, they couldn't get him to wake up.

Finally they resorted to dragging him the rest of the way.

* * *

Naruto woke up to find himself lying close by a smoldering fire, covered in dirt and scratches. He took quick survey of his surroundings and surmised that they must have dragged him here to set up camp after dozing off in the sun.

Outwardly calm, but inwardly sheepish at having been dragged, he looked to find the others asleep, so he forced himself up and slightly stumbled off into the thinning foliage, unaware of the shadow that followed him.

Sakura watched as the boy moved surprisingly quickly through the forest, stopping from time to time to examine something, but moving on with confidence. He moved back and forth, in a zigzag pattern, his eyes searching for something.

She watched as he froze, looking closely at something and muttering to himself as he moved along even faster through the forest.

When he reached the end of the already thinning trees, she reached it soon after to witness what he had seen as well.

Wide, rolling plains, so different from the forest that she had known for her entire life. Few trees were in sight, but almost every square foot was overly thick in tall yellowish grass, so tall that might reach up to her waist should she walk in it. She stayed, however, well hidden in the forest as she watched Naruto move slowly and curiously through the grass.

"The way he's been moving, back and forth," she finally realized, "maybe he's been scouting the ahead territory every night, checking for ambush or broken paths."

As Sakura made her discovery, however, she wouldn't realize how Naruto stopped, cocking his head slightly to the side, as if hearing something.

She wouldn't notice how he seemed to tense up intensely and turn back in the direction of the forest, trying to run, but his movements hindered by the foreign grass that caused him to stumble.

She would, however, notice when he tripped, going down without so much as a thud, cushioned by the grass.

As Sakura waited for her teammate to pick himself up, she grew more and more worried. The grass should have softened his fall, resulting in almost complete unharm. Though reluctant to give away her position, after almost ten minutes of waiting, she was forced to make her way through the grass to the area where he had tripped.

What she found shocked her, causing her to turn and run back to Kakashi and Sasuke, hoping one of them would know what to do.

Or rather, what she didn't find.

The grass had been smashed, pushed down like somebody had been lying down, but there was no sign of Naruto.

Birds began to chirp as Sakura moved as quickly as she could back to camp.

The day of their arrival to Weed Country had begun.

* * *

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

A rather ominous beginning, eh wot? But I do know it was probably a little bit boring…It had to be done! Sorry if it seemed pointless…

And so begins my first original saga. Hopefully it shall be well liked, and any mistakes I make pointed out…

Just remember that I do like keeping secrets, so don't expect too many things to just jump out at you. The storyline will be different and there shall be many Ocs. Expect much confusion in coming chapters.

I don't know how long this saga will be drawn out, but hopefully it will go on for a good long while.

And finally, to those of you wondering, why is Weed Country called 'Weed' Country…

The reason will be learned soon enough, but the pieces are there, so you might be able to guess. And, no, the word 'weed' does not reference to drugs.

The rating on this fic might go higher if it did…


	8. Final Night of Peace

The early morning dawn had just begun its shine one the fair Country of Weed when Sakura finally made it back to camp. Her breath, only a while ago strained from panic, was now instead laboring under the sprint she had taken back to the remaining members of her team.

Her entrance into the clearing snapped the attention of both Kakashi and Sasuke, who sat eating a leisured breakfast by a smoldering fire. Kakashi turned with a questioning look on his face, or what was visible of his face, and Sakura needed no other prompt to answer him.

Her recount of the tale was not interrupted as she spoke in a hurried and panicked tone, voice rising as she reached the portion mentioning Naruto's disappearance. The young girl cast her emerald green eyes downward, scanning the browning foliage so as not to meet the other's eyes.

She had been the one to volunteer in helping her teammate, and she had failed so completely. Tears once again began to threaten the corners of her eyes as she thought about it. What if next time it was Sasuke that was in need of help? Would she fail him as well…She hoped not.

_Please…be okay, Naruto…_ Sakura thought desperately.

* * *

Kakashi stared at the girl with liddled eyes. Although he cursed himself for his hubris in sending the girl to watch what he knew could be a potentially dangerous situation for both of them, he understood it would do no good to blame her. It was obvious she was already feeling the loss.

The silver haired jounin knew the feeling that accompanied the loss of a companion, but past experience didn't make it any easier. However the past had allowed him to gain a well-gripped control over his emotions. It wasn't good form for a ninja to let loose in any aspect of his life.

This loss of emotion for him had not taken long, and he was under no illusions about his life a nin…

But having this kind of control over your emotions did allow one to think more clearly in situations like this.

"Did you see Naruto die, Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"No," she answered shakily "I didn't see anything. He was just there, and then he wasn't…"

Sakura shuddered as the image of Naruto's corpse flashed in her mind. Was this what being a ninja was?

"There was no body either, right?"

"No," she wished Kakashi would stop asking her these questions. She was getting a little queasy at the images her imagination supplied.

"Naruto's a strong boy. If there's no proof to the otherwise, lets just assume he's alive and… perhaps not well but alive."

Sasuke, before satisfied with simply listening, finally asked, "Now, do we look for the brat, or continue with our mission?" He turned his gaze from Sakura to Kakashi. Kakashi to Sakura and back again.

Kakashi looked thoughtful for a bit before, "The option is yours, as his team. Although he could be in dire peril, do you believe your teammate is strong enough to overcome it alone while you continue with your duties to the village," he looked pointedly at both of them, "or should we look for him?"

Both gennin sat thinking about their predicament. Sakura sat in a difficult position, not at all sure which side she should take. She knew Sasuke well enough to know what he was going to choose, and it seemed to be the logical choice, but…

"I think we should continue with the mission," Sasuke announced, leaving neither of his teammates surprised. "Naruto's strong enough to handle himself, we should get this pathetic excuse for a mission out of the way first. It shouldn't take long to complete, and we could get to know the surrounding area without running around."

His announcement was met this silence, as the others were lost in their own thoughts.

Sakura finally answered, agreeing with Sasuke, of course, but sounding rather unconfident about it.

"We should get the mission done like Sasuke says…Naruto is strong…He shouldn't…die…" she couldn't summon the courage to talk anymore.

The remaining members of Team Seven packed up camp silently, beginning their trek to Weed. Kakashi had yet to say something about their decision.

_Please_, thought Sakura, _don't make me a liar…Naruto._

* * *

Finally back on the road, each of the remaining members of Team Seven felt the burden of their missing teammate. Although Naruto never really spoke much, his presence held a certain power. He was always there, watching them, offering help and advice when he felt needed.

"Why so quiet, Sakura?"

Sakura jerked her head up to face Kakashi, surprised that he had shaken her out of her thoughts so suddenly. However, surprise didn't last long, and her emerald eyes soon found their way back to viewing the dusty path they traveled.

"Sakura…"

This time Sakura felt her heart almost stop, her stomach contracting, at the sound of Sasuke actually talking to her. And sounding concerned! This was a dream come true.

'_I knew Sasuke-kun cared! He cares about me, like I told everyone_' she bit her lip, however, as she thought about her current predicament. How could she have forgotten Sasuke was here! '_I can't afford to look weak to Sasuke-kun. I need to rough this like those two. I'm a ninja too, and ninja aren't supposed to show emotion…I'll just have to believe in Naruto _'

So, putting on her best smile, Sakura turned back to her teammates, surprising them this time with the force and suddenness of her action.

Kakashi recovered quickly, and although Sakura now giggled and began acting more normal, he could detect an undertone of sadness inside her. He smiled though, as he could see what she was doing.

She was once again doing her best to put the good of the team above her personal feelings.

'_Is it Sasuke that puts her up to this…or does something else motivate her…_' by far, the one female on Team Seven was the one that confused the jounin the most. He could sense her potential, but he could see she hardly tapped it. It also seemed she did her best work when others were depending on her, when she felt needed by the two stoic boys…

"Who am I kidding…?" Kakashi mumbled to himself as he watched Sasuke grow less and less stable at the consistent chatter Sakura now unleashed. "I'll never understand women…"

* * *

A single group of three stood out in their first viewing of the ocean of high yellow grass that carped the plains of Weed Country. Winds whipped through the air, forcing the tall grasses into a respectful bow, then swirling around for another playful breeze through the three shinobi.

Rustling hair and clothing remained unnoticed as each remained lost in the expanse of thoughts that the view inspired. One thought only of regret at the sight, another of sheer vastness, and the last of the uniqueness of it all. Only through straining of the eyes could any of them recognize the shadow in the far side of the plains.

On the far end of the sea of grass stood a lone mountain, towering over the surrounding land, like a lone sentry, watching over the entirety of the spacious country.

Like it has been said so many times in the past, an adventure always begins with a single step. True to its mantra, this venture too would begin with a single step, taken by a small chipped team, on their way to an operation that would soon prove to be much more than appears at first step…

"Aargh! Kakashi-sensei! Do we have to keep walking through this grass?" Sakura complained to the stoic jounin. "It's itchy and hard to keep your balance in"

The pink haired girl cried out once more as she tripped over one of the many protruding roots hidden by the tall grasses. Sasuke, in all his stoicism, couldn't help but let out a snicker. He himself was having little trouble navigating the treacherous yellow weeds.

Sakura, who had heard the small snicker, looked up at the dark haired boy with slight watering in her eyes.

Sasuke twitched.

"Ano, Sakura, you could try this…" Kakashi began, hoping to stop a conflict and give the girl something to concentrate on at the same time, even if just to get her to shut up.

"What is it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well, the reason you keep tripping up is because you can't see through the grass right?"

"I guess so," the girl answered, looking doubtful.

"Well then we just need to bend this pesky grass out of the way, ne?"

"How would we do that sensei?" Even Sasuke looked on with a bit of feigned disinterest. Kakashi smiled at a hidden thought.

"I was going to wait a bit before teaching this kind of technique to one of you, but seeing as this is a prime opportunity…"

Sakura's eyes shone in anticipation. Anything to stop her from looking incompetent in front of Sasuke anymore.

"As you two probably saw earlier, this kind of grass bends easily to a little bit of pressure, like the light breeze of wind. Chakra too has a property like this." Sakura blinked in interest. She hadn't heard of anything like that. "There is a lot about chakra that isn't understood, even by us shinobi. Thus, there isn't much that is taught about it in the academy.

And even that which we know about chakra could cause some…difficulties if experimented with. Thus it is usually left to those shinobi of higher ranks to eventually pass such information down to their subordinates and successors instead of teaching them to the more…incompetent nin."

"Are they…dangerous, sensei?"

"Not usually, no. However, experimenting with the properties of chakra can cause damage if not conducted slowly and carefully. There are already many known uses of pure chakra, only one of which is outward force. For example," Kakashi rose a single finger back to the forest they had just left, "chakra can also be used to gravitate as well, like in a tree walking exercise, which more experienced shinobi can use to travel quickly through forested areas. I was taught this by my sensei, and find that it can be excellent in building chakra reserves and control."

"How do we do it, that chakra force thing you mentioned?" Sakura asked her teacher eagerly.

"I often find that an example works wonders for teaching," Kakashi answered slyly. Really, deep down, he couldn't help but show off a bit, but that was only a side reason.

"Bet he just likes showing off," Sasuke mumbled to himself.

Kakashi only smiled behind his formless mask as he released a small bit of his chakra to create a displacement of the surrounding air, pushing it outwards and flattening the surrounding grass. Then, with seemingly effortless thought, he focused the air to force a line of grass ahead of him to the ground. He took a small step forward to demonstrate, watching them blink in surprise as the winds moved with him to clear more of the ahead terrain for him, while leaving the formerly devastated grasses behind him as if untouched.

Releasing the force, Kakashi smiled at his students. "Just work with the flow of chakra instead of against it, that's the only hint I'll give. Take your time; we have almost the whole day until we reach the mountain. That's were we should be meeting our client."

* * *

With a sigh, a man heaved himself down on a chair, rocking out in the open air of his home porch. The expanse of the entirety of the grassy plains lay out in front of him, a painted picture of green and yellow.

The home itself was unusual, removed from the nearby town at the foot of the distant mountain, a normal half a day walk away. In fact, the high grasses in the scenery seemed to part in a well-used trail towards the town.

Wrapped in a large heavy coat, and a wide rimmed hat pulled low over his face, any distinct features of the owner were obscured, save the stray hairs of a short gray beard that protruded from the wrapped cloth.

He was rotund, well fed looking, and wiggled a bit uncomfortably before settling as the sun shone down onto the lonely house. The quiet creak of the rocking chair and the whistling rustling of the grass were the only sounds to be heard as the rocked back in the relative shade of the porch.

The man stopped, however, to lean forwards and peer out into the distance, out among the grassy fields.

Leaning back again, the man simply began to rock once more, gloved hands moving to fold over his belly, contentedly waiting. Patiently waiting for something.

Patience came easily to some, and Hiroshi was quite exceptional at waiting. After all, it was all he had done for twenty-some odd years. A few more days couldn't hurt.

As much as he would like to think that it would soon be over, however, he knew differently.

It was all just beginning. After twenty years of waiting, it was finally beginning…

But with a beginning, inevitably comes an end.

Hiroshi leaned deeply back into the chair, which began to creak in protest of the weight. The quiet snores beginning to emanate soon made it obvious, though, that such protests would go unheard.

* * *

Noontime came and past as the three continued their journey to the distant mountain, both gennin resisting with whatever might they had to take a break. Sakura wanted to last at least as long a Sasuke could, and the brooding dark haired boy was just stubborn with much larger reserves of chakra than his female teammate.

Kakashi sighed as he watched the two work at the exercise as they continued on. Perhaps it was a little more than those two were ready for, as so far the only thing either had accomplished was wasting chakra through their legs, albeit Sakura wasted it in more controlled amounts.

He shook his head at the thoughts however, as what they were attempting was probably for more difficult than something they were used to putting their minds to. Sakura, to her credit, was even moving in the right direction, she simply lacked to drive to move any faster than Sasuke. She was probably already readying herself to lose their unspoken contest the brooding avenger.

Their pace was somewhat slowed, but the exercise they were bringing upon themselves was already pushing them to the limit in chakra reserves, so the younger members of the team couldn't move too much quicker.

As such it wasn't until well past noon that the three members of team seven happened upon a poorly built, old wooden house. Rotten wood littered the high grass around it, as well as shingles that had fallen from the rooftop.

Out on a poorly built porch sat a solitary rocking chair, devoid of any occupant in its quiet watch of the vast plains from which they had just come.

"That house looks pretty deserted, doesn't it?" Sakura stated questioningly. "It looks rather worn down."

Her statements were true, as the house did look like it would come crashing down any minute, but…

_Something doesn't feel right_, Kakashi thought to himself. _The land around the porch seems worn down, not overgrown like the rest of the fields. That rocking chair looks fairly new, and the few windows that shack actually has are clean._

_No, somebody lives here, or at least visits often enough to clean up every now and again. The question is…who?_

"Let's just keep going," Sasuke commanded as he started to walk past the broken home. "We should be getting this mission done as soon as possible to go look for Naruto."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed wholeheartedly.

Kakashi sighed. They needed to learn to move a little more carefully on missions like this. Information needed to be gathered, and something told him that the person living in this house could help them. But then, this wasn't really his mission.

_Sink or swim_, thought Kakashi silently, as he moved to follow the duo. _I'm just here to make sure they don't die._

As the three teammates made their way around the rickety old shack, they got a good look at it up close. They passed up next to one of the storm bitten walls, an overgrowth of weeds growing up against it, as well as a clump placed around what looked like a storm cellar.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura asked as she stopped and looked towards her teacher. He responded in such, peering down at her through is single eye. "Why would this old house need a cellar? Do storms occur often in this part of the island?"

Kakashi thought carefully before responding, "I'm not sure, but I think I may have heard something about an active volcano…" he let the information spread over the two before continuing. Closing is eye with a grin, he finished, "…that I also heard was now extinct."

"Dammit, sensei, don't scare me like that! Not that I was scared, but I never expected a volcano in this part…"

"I'm pretty sure that the volcano is the only large mountain formation in the area, right in the heart of Weed. In fact," Kakashi gestured around the house. Sakura took a few hesitant steps to the corner while Sasuke remained still, stoic to a fault. When he heard her gasp, however, he decided it might be worth his time to go see.

Sasuke moved slowly and without hurry towards the house corner, uncaring but curious what lay on the other side. What he saw did little to move him, but he had to admit, looked pretty cool.

Not that anybody would ever hear him say that.

Before the two gennin stood a tall crumbling stone arch, intricate designs and carvings marked in its sides. The arch itself, however, stood only to frame the real picture, the mountain that they had all seen in the distance, but had looked so small, haloed by the setting sun in an array of brilliant colors and hues of red.

And just at the peak, only barely in view, could be seen the shadow of a building, a palace of sorts, sitting majestically and surveying the entirety of the lands.

Having lived their entire lives solely in the forest of Konoha up until now, Sakura had only one thing to say at the sight…

"Wow, that's cool…"

* * *

After staring at the now extinct volcano for some time, the two gennin finally noticed that around the base of the mountain existed the city to which they were traveling, the only current town or city in all of Weed. They would have to hurry on, or the quickly setting sun would leave them in the dark to finish their journey.

Gathering themselves up, they called for Kakashi, who made himself known to be present standing behind them.

"Ready to go?" he asked. When he got an affirmative, he pointed them onto the previously unseen trail that seemed to go in the direction they were headed. Relieved that they could travel without caution or chakra exercises, the two young shinobi made their ways quickly to the mountain.

Kakashi took one last look at the old shack before turning his back on it and the ruins that scattered around the shrine as he made his way over to his students.

Travel time went by much faster than before on the beaten trail, but still seemed to drag along as the mountain they were traveling towards only seemed to grow too slowly to be noticeable.

By the time they had arrived at the outskirts of the city, several hours had passed and a darkness was spread around the area like a thick blanket, only the thin wafts of moonlight brightening the streets by a miniscule amount.

"We need to find a place to reside for however long we need to stay," Sasuke stated as he moved carefully so as not to bump into anything in the dark. Especially Sakura.

"Geez," Sakura whispered angrily as she stubbed her toe against an upturned stone block, "aren't there any lights in this town?"

Kakashi moved to nudge both of them as he noticed a very important building sign, lit and guiding the way to salvation.

_Inn_

A quiet tinkling was heard in the back of the foyer as the three made their way into the rather small looking inn. The foyer they had just stepped into was small, a single desk back at the corner of the room. Two doors, one at the left and one to the right seemed to lead the ways to the various rooms.

"Hello?" Sakura called uncertainly. "We'd like to rent a room please…"

Kakashi stepped up to the desk at the back of the room, opening a bound journal and turning to the page that was marked with a red ribbon. Giving it a quick scan, he quickly closed and reclasped it as footsteps were heard coming from one of the guest rooms. Soon a small head appeared in the doorway.

A girl, about fifteen years old, made her way quietly into the room with the three shinobi, apologizing for something in a whisper.

"What did you say…?" inquired Sakura as she moved to intercept the girl.

The fifteen year old shook her head vehemently, short blue tresses of hair moving wildly through the air as she expressed her obvious dislike for any noise. She gathered them closely and whispered softly,

"I'm sorry, but the inn keeper is asleep right now. My name is Himoko, and I currently rent one of the upstairs rooms. It's very nice to meet you."

Himoko smiled sweetly before continuing. "If you want to rent a room for a while, please go and sign the guest book on the desk over there," she gestured to the bound journal, "rooms are rather expensive at the moment, due to the shortage of housing in the city, but feel free to share a single room. I'm sure the inn keeper won't mind."

"I have to share a room with two guys!?" Sakura exclaimed a bit loudly, before clamping her mouth with her hands. Silence reigned for a few seconds before the all four of them collectively sighed.

"If you're quiet," Himoko stated, "you can share my room for a while…"

"Oh, no. I couldn't impose like that…"

"Poppycock! You wouldn't be imposing. I'm inviting you to stay with me for a bit." Himoko smiled warmly again. "Think of it like a sleep over."

"I guess if it's okay…" Sakura mumbled.

"Go ahead," Kakashi urged. "We don't mind, do we?" he asked, turning to Sasuke.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you didn't want me around," teased the pink haired kunoichi.

Sasuke gave a huff and turned to walk down one of the hallways, determined to find their room instead of dealing with the pointless banter.

With that, Kakashi split up with Sakura, giving their farewells to each other for the moment, and Sakura moved to follow the older blue haired girl back up to her room.

They reached their destination, a small single person bedroom, sparsely furnished with only a bed, a small desk and a locked trunk. Moving to the closet, Himoko removed a futon, unrolling it and placing it on the other side of the room, readying it for Sakura's use.

Little was said between the two girls, until finally, after the lights were out and the two in bed when Sakura finally asked the question that had been bothering her for a while.

"When we were traveling, we had one other person with us. We lost track of him back at the edge of the plains, he just disappeared. Do you know what could have happened to him?"

Himoko was silent for a bit, before answering suddenly, "Don't worry about it, they all show up again soon, somewhere around town. They all show up here, not too much worse for the wear. Don't worry about it…"

Sakura worried a bit over the cryptic answer before she saw the smile that Himoko was giving her through the darkness.

Something was off about that smile, but whatever it was she had felt, quickly drifted away as Sakura fell asleep, lulled deeply by a sense of comfort she felt wrapped around her.

Just before sleep overtook her, Sakura's final thought echoed in her head.

_Naruto could be somewhere in the town…in the town…in the town…_

* * *

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

Okay, I know that this is really late in the showing, and probably very disappointing, but you all are lucky to get even this. My computer is down, so far down...

Its got a virus, and getting on the net only makes it worse, but I finished this chapter and decided to screw it, you deserved to see what I had made. Really, I intended to make it longer, to get most of the way through the Weed arc(I'm really looking forward to the Chunnin exams)but as it turns out, there is so much more to be written that I intended, so really, I havent even gotten into the meat of anything yet. That should happen next chapter.

...I keep saying that dont I? But really, I know just about as much as you all do when it comes to plot twists and suspence. I'm not really writing this story, its writing itself. I just know where I intend to end up, but the trip, im just going along with it. No idea how i'm going to get there or what exactly im going to write.

Hopefully, there should be a next update sooner than this one, but you never know. Some serious strange stuff happening soon, giving me some serious though on if I should change the rating to the story. Not lemony stuff, mind you, but horror. It all depends on how well I write it when it comes down to changing the rating. Oh well.

This chapter wasn't beta'd, so any mistakes, let me know of them. I did SEND it to a beta, but he never sent me it back...


	9. A Calming Shopping Trip

Morning came upon the sleeping shinobi swiftly. Sunlight streamed in through a nearby window and Sakura lifted herself up onto an elbow with a yawn, surveying her surroundings through tired, half open eyes. Random strands of bed head floated in her face, but she ignored them as she noticed that her impromptu roommate was gone.

Himoko had apparently left earlier in the morning, and Sakura felt slightly embarrassed that she hadn't noticed her departure. Shinobi should be awoken by the slightest of noise or movement.

_I must have been more tired than I realized_, Sakura frowned to herself. Chakra exhaustion usually did cause insane amounts of sleep and hunger to recover from, so…

"Here it comes," Sakura mumbled as she braced her stomach. Almost immediately afterwards she doubled over, hunger clawing at the lining in her stomach, moving her to grimace in pain.

Cringing a few more times, the pink haired gennin finally felt the painful shrinking of her stomach decrease to a substantial gnawing hunger. She picked herself up.

"Thank god that chakra backlash doesn't last long," she moaned. "But I still need to eat soon…"

Stumbling over the pack she didn't really remember placing by the door, Sakura made her way into a hallway, wavering in her footsteps as she moved towards the stairs. Clutching her stomach with one hand, and the rail in her other, she examined her shaking legs.

"There's no way I'm going to make it downstairs by walking…" she realized under the smoky haze of hunger, "I'd fall before I made it halfway down."

Upon this realization, she lowered herself to sit on the top step of the stairwell, sliding off of it onto the second, and slowly moving along to the bottom of the stairs. Finally making it to the bottom, she re-gripped the banister and levered herself back up into a somewhat standing position, and waddled off once more to find some semblance of food.

* * *

Kakashi and Sasuke where seated at a simple round dining table when Sakura finally stumbled in, clutching her stomach. Kakashi waved and gave the silent girl a cheerful hello that said "Look at me, I slept well!" Sasuke raised his head, gave her a quick appraising, and then lowered it again with a painful nod of acknowledgement.

Sakura seated herself across from Sasuke, and then lowered her head too, doing her best to hold back the pains.

"Food…" she finally managed to moan.

Kakashi took pity on her and answered, "Don't worry, something should be here shortly. Himoko said the innkeeper woke up just a bit before you did, before she had to leave. The innkeeper is in the kitchen cooking for the guests right now. They usually don't eat before eight o'clock, but she said today, she would make an exception."

Almost the instant that Kakashi finished his comforting, a tall, dark haired woman walked into the dining room, a kitchen apron tied around her waist and a cigarette in her mouth. She looked to be an older woman, perhaps in her thirties, but the youth in her eyes and the delicate, although now frowning face, said differently.

Brushing her slightly frazzled short cut hair, she took a good look at the three new faces at the inn's table. Her face held a frown, but it looked to be a frown of confusion more than anger.

"Have I seen you three before?" the woman asked.

"I don't…believe so," Kakashi replied uncertainly, as he scratched his head in confusion. "We arrived late last night, and one of the other tenets kindly let us in."

"Oh, that's good. I had thought that maybe you three had been staying here for years, and I might have forgotten you."

"Forgotten us?"

"Yes," the woman replied, "I do seem to have that problem once in a while, forgetting people that I see everyday."

"That's terrible, does this happen often?"

"Not too often, and I'm just lucky my memory seems to be a bit selective. I never seem to forget anything really important."

"Really, like what?"

She smiled before answering seriously, "I never seem to forget when people owe me money."

"That's true," a man said as he walked into the room as well, "she could probably recite the names and current balances of every person who has ever borrowed anything from her." The man seemed kind, his dark black hair was hanging a little long over his face and a thick pair of glasses rested on his nose. "My name is Keigo, by the way. It is very nice to meet you."

"Oh my, I forgot to give you my name," the dark haired woman said shyly. "I am Ayoreito Kisako. It is very nice to meet you."

"My name is Kakashi," the two gennin's sensei smiled, "and these two rotting corpses are my students, Sakura and Sasuke. I'm sure they would both be happy to meet you as well, but unfortunately they are a bit…occupied with their hunger."

"OH!" Kisako exclaimed before turning and running as fast as she could into the other room.

"She probably left the stove on and burnt breakfast again," Keigo warned the three at the table. "Please don't criticize her cooking though, she does her best, but she has been so forgetful lately."

"So Ayoreito is the innkeeper here?" Kakashi inquired.

"Yes, Kisako has been innkeeper here for a while, perhaps about ten years. That's a long time in a town that has only existed for a little over thirty."

"Oh, have you been a resident here for long?"

"I…I guess so," Keigo replied carefully. "I think it's been about seven years since I moved in."

"Really, I didn't think that people stayed for that long at an inn," Kakashi replied thoughtfully.

"Usually not, but housing around here has been so expensive lately, that it's really been cheaper to rent a room instead of buying a house."

Further conversation was halted for a bit as Kisako brought in the slightly charred breakfast to the hungry guests. The two gennin were so hungry that they tore away at their portion while Kakashi simply poked at it while hoping he had enough pocket cash to afford eating out for a while.

"So," Sakura asked suddenly, "are their any other guests here?"

"Yes, but most of them are currently asleep, although a few of us, like me, Keigo and little Himoko usually wake up pretty early," Kisako replied amiably. "Keigo goes and checks the house out for any repair needs while I clean and start cooking breakfast."

"I thought you paid rent and lived here," Kakashi whispered to Keigo.

"I do," Keigo replied, "but rent isn't cheap when you stay for so long, so I help out for a bit of a discount."

Kisako continued as if there wasn't a side conversation going on. "Little Himoko is such an angel as well. She offers to go and do my morning shopping every now and then. She always finds the best bargains…"

"So Himoko is out buying groceries?" Sakura inquired.

"At the moment, probably not," Kisako replied. "Himoko usually takes a while to shop, and she doesn't just shop for food. She does other shopping as well."

"Really?" Sakura seemed surprised. "I honestly love to shop, but Himoko seemed a bit too introverted to be a good shopper when we met her…"

"Yes, her shyness does surprise most, and her tentativeness can be a bit annoying at times," Keigo replied for Kisako, "but she does have a talent for looking cute. Most of the shopkeepers here are too soft to refuse her requests when she shops."

"Come to think of it, I haven't really been shopping in a while…" Sakura pondered loudly, her gaze straying towards Kakashi and Sasuke.

Kakashi quickly met her gaze. His answer was swift and decisive. There was no way he was going shopping during a mission, especially with a female student. His team had decided upon other things, but this is where he drew the line. There was no way in hell…

* * *

"I hate shopping," Kakashi mumbled as the three teammates wandered through the shady market district.

"Hmm, what was that Sensei? I didn't quite hear you," Sakura smiled sweetly at Kakashi, who had just dodged to the side to avoid one of the many playful children scattered in the street.

"Actually, I said that I hated…" Kakashi halted, standing frozen in the center of the street. His eyes were staring unwaveringly towards a small, well-furnished pawnshop. He continued to stare unmoving as his two students continued to walk a ways down the street.

Everything about him was frozen. He couldn't twitch a finger or draw a kunai. His chest felt heavy, he couldn't even breathe, and he didn't care. It was like time had stopped for one man. His mind just couldn't contemplate it.

"Sensei!"

Kakashi continued to stand unmoving as his two students ran back to him, Sakura in the lead and Sasuke trailing behind. When they finally retraced their steps back to him, Sakura waved a hand in front of his face.

"Kakashi-sensei?" she inquired, getting a bit worried. "Sasuke, what's wrong with him?"

With a shake of his head and a look that said just how embarrassed he was to be associated with the tall silver haired man beside him, Sasuke pointed to the store Kakashi was staring at.

"What, did he see something important through that window?" Sakura asked excitedly.

"Sakura," Sasuke started, before being interrupted by a suddenly energetic Kakashi.

"Of course I saw something in there…well not really, but my ninja senses are tingling! There must be something important in that store. Let's go have a look, okay?"

All three quickly made their way inside the building, Sasuke kept quiet by the warning glares sent by Kakashi, and Sakura oblivious to the huge sign outside the shop.

Inside the pawnshop there were strange objects everywhere. Knives, paper, walnuts, bubblegum, books, glasses, wigs, watches, televisions, shoes, and rocks all littered the shop walls, and boxes in the back promised an even more extensive collection. Perhaps the strangest thing in the collection, however, was the lone guillotine in the back, pressed up against the wall. A voice called out from the back,

"If it's a customer, hold on a second! If you're a debt collector, go away, I haven't got the money yet!"

The three shinobi shared curious glances at each other before a small bald man emerged from the back room. His head seemed abnormally large for such a small body, but the thick glasses adorning his nose simply threw it way out of proportion.

"Oh, good it's a customer! Have you come in with something in mind, or are you just here to browse?"

Before Sakura could answer, however, Kakashi blurted, "These two," he gestured to Sakura and Sasuke, "would like to get a good look at any of the goods you may have hidden at the back of the store."

"Hidden at the back of the store?" the man asked nervously. "What do you mean by that? The only things I keep there are some of my newly bought items… the ones not yet categorized…"

"Yes," Kakashi answered flippantly, pushing the two resisting children to the back room, then shutting and baring the door. "They want a GOOD look at the things not in this room. Now, while they're back there, a coincidental glance at the store revealed a sign sitting outside. Now, about it…"

"Yes, of course, I did hope that it would draw customers inside…" the man replied a bit abashedly. "You see, I got a hold of these just a while ago, when I heard they sold well, but so far, nobody has bought any…"

"Well, if that's the case…" Kakashi stated, "then for the sake of your business, I shall buy them ALL!"

Soon a very happy Kakashi, his arms full with a large, heavy box, moved to unbar the door to the back room. Almost instantly, a wide-eyed Sakura threw the door open, yelling out to him.

"Sensei, your ninja senses were right!"

Kakashi stared at the girl for a second, "…my who were what?"

"You know, outside the store, how you mentioned you-,"

"Oh, right, right, those sneezes."

"Senses."

"Whatever."

"Oh, just come on!" Sakura begged, dragging a stumbling Kakashi balancing his newly bought…box of stuff. "See look! You were right!"

There, in the middle of the strewn tidbits, now being searched by a less than despondent Sasuke, sat a familiar object, one that had been seen by the three shinobi several times in the last few months, an object that had been recently missing along with a certain blond gennin.

"Is that…?" Kakashi asked quietly.

"Yeah," Sasuke answered, "It is."

"Naruto's disguise pack…"

* * *

"I can't believe that damn manager didn't remember who sold him Naruto's pack!" Sakura complained loudly. "At this rate, we'll never find him."

Sasuke stayed quiet at the comment, deciding to instead readjust the rather large backpack that now adorned his back. Whatever Naruto kept in there weighed enough to force the laden Sasuke to stoop, his back and legs already beginning to protest at the exercise. "Its no wonder he's so quick," Sasuke muttered to himself, "carrying this around with him, like he does, then dropping it before any real exercise should act like doping…"

"At least we know he's in the city," Kakashi finally answering Sakura's complaint. "If we just continue with the mission, things might turn out right in the end…"

The group fell quiet as they continued their walk back to the inn in which they had taken refuge. Kakashi was walking behind the two gennin, somehow balancing a large cardboard box on top of his head so he could read with his free hands. Sakura was still curious about the box, while Sasuke was pointedly ignoring Kakashi's strange actions and continuing to struggle with the over weighted bag.

Instead the dark boy reviewed the facts he had gathered of the last few days in his head.

The city they were currently staying in was the only major settlement in all of the country of Weed, and apparently where everybody lived, so housing was expensive. Building also seemed expensive, as the tall grass that flowed across the horizon as far as the eye could see was rather tenacious, forcing any roads to be built specially to keep the grass from growing back up. Roads were narrow and crowded and the marketplace was full of expensive food items.

The inn they were staying at had a total of seven tenets and a landlord. So far they had met three of these people; Kisako, the landlord who seemed to be a forgetful but kind lady, Keigo, the long time tenet and local handyman, and Himoko, the strangely tentative girl that seemed to go out of her way to make life easier for others.

Naruto still seemed to be missing, but they had narrowed it down to the fact that Naruto must be somewhere in the city, or at least nearby. The mission could be completed before they went to look for him, but first they had to meet the man whom had requested their presence. The meeting was scheduled for today at noon, so hopefully this pointless mission can be taken care of quickly so effort in finding their blond haired companion could be put in full force.

Upon arrival back at the inn, the three shinobi felt like they were being watched.

"Do you feel that, Sasuke?" Sakura whispered.

Sasuke replied with only a noncommittal 'hn', but the girl knew he had.

"Something isn't right here…" Sakura noted as they moved to walk up the pavement to the inn.

A pair of eyes seemed to be staring at them from somewhere, but upon looking around, there was nobody to be seen. The weight of the gaze seemed to increase as they approached the front door, but upon reaching for the handle, it was gone. While the two gennin looked about curiously, Kakashi looked straight up at one of the second story windows.

A pair of ominous yellow human eyes peered back at him.

There was no longer a feeling of weight, but instead one of dread, and not by Kakashi. The eyes were wide, fearful as they locked contact with the jounin's single eye. After a few moments of terrified staring, the yellow eyes vanished, disappearing as quickly as they had appeared.

While his two students continued on into the house obliviously, Kakashi stood balancing his box for a moment, thinking things through for himself.

After a few moments, his eye widened slightly and he smirked beneath his mask. Slowly and without undue haste, he opened the inn door and stepped inside, sliding the door shut once more with a single foot.

* * *

While struggling up the stairs to their rented room, Sasuke was finally able to get a glimpse of a few of the other tenets. When he passed by the kitchen, for example, he noticed a couple sitting at the dining table sharing their late breakfast. With only a quick glance, Sasuke was able to determine that the man seemed large and out of shape, while the woman's hair was an unnaturally light blond.

Before he had the chance to examine more, however, a young dark skinned girl pushed him lightly forward. Again, he wasn't able to see too much of her, as she quickly disappeared through into the kitchen, but he did notice that her hair was so pale, it seemed white, and the clothes she was dressed in gave him a very bland feeling.

What stood out most about her, however, was not her appearance, but the way that she walked. Her footsteps were uneven, and her movements made as if she was walking underwater. She moved quickly, but her mind seemed to be a bit behind.

He decided to go ahead and move on, plodding up the steps and wishing that Kakashi had been the one made to bring Naruto's pack up to their room. However, he hadn't even had much time to argue his point, as Kakashi quickly beat him to the stairs and simply called back at him to 'do his best'.

"If Naruto can do this everyday," Sasuke resolved himself, "so can I. I am an Uchiha, I must be the best." With that he steeled himself and marched up and around the corner leading to his shared room. He was so concentrated upon walking around with the great weight on his back that he almost missed greeting Keigo as he passed him on the way down the stairs.

Greeting the tenet handyman with a brief nod of the head, Sasuke paid little more attention the man. It was only when he finally arrived at his room that he allowed himself to relax his concentration, resulting in an immediate overbalancing and landing on his ass. The dark haired boy didn't notice the pain however, as he was busy telling Kakashi exactly what he could do to himself with this perverted novel between labored breaths.

Kakashi only smiled, deciding to instead poke fun at the huffing gennin. "You know, since Naruto carries that around all day, he must get as tired as that as well…"

"Yes, sensei, I know. So when he drops it, the feeling of release from the pressure must give him a sense of lightness, allowing a faster speed of movement."

"…Yes, like I was going to say. In a way, it's like Naruto dopes up after dropping such a heavy weight after wearing it for so long."

"Hn," Sasuke replied more easily. He had already thought of this.

"So that means, relatively speaking of course, that Naruto is better than you at both stealth and speed."

That thought brought Sasuke down cold. He had known that Naruto was good at what he did, and that the boy was probably stronger in some aspects than himself, but to have it so bluntly said to him by his sensei had shocked him.

"From the looks of things, you probably won't be able to catch him anytime soon in terms of weight carrying…"

"I'll carry double what that pack weighs, starting now," Sasuke interrupted stubbornly.

Kakashi's mask hid the satisfied smirk. "Are you sure you can do that, it is a lot of weight."

"Triple," Sasuke replied even more stubbornly. He knew he would regret it, but having anybody patronize him only pissed the boy off. He would show his gray-haired teacher.

"Good, good!" Kakashi clapped insanely. "I have just the thing for you." Reaching into his own pack, he pulled out a cloth filled with what seemed to be clinking weights. "I just found these in some store a while ago," Kakashi smiled happily. "There are four of these, and you tie one cloth around each of your wrists and ankles. Their combined weight should equal three times what Naruto's pack weighs."

Sasuke blinked. _Has Kakashi just suckered me into something?_

Kakashi smiled and left the room laughing as the boy struggled to even tie the weights around his limbs. "Oh, and you owe me fifty bucks for that set!" With that parting, Kakashi vanished in a plume of smoke.

_Definitely suckered._

* * *

Sakura was walking back to her room, thinking to herself exactly what the mission they were on might entail. "Naruto is somewhere nearby," she whispered to herself, "but for how long? We need to get this mission over with so we can find him."

Walking down the corridor, she noticed she was passing by Sasuke's room. Never one to dismiss a chance to get a glimpse inside her crushes head, she pressed her ear to the door.

What she heard was rather embarrassing. He was currently losing his cool over his inability to move freely with the weights Kakashi had given him, and blaming it all on the conniving jounin. "That stupid sensei. Trying to trick me, the great Uchiha, into admitting I'm anything less than the best, I'll show him. I am the best, I will do all I can to surpass everyone. I will become stronger, stronger…

I will…

I will…"

All sound that she had been eavesdropping on suddenly stopped. Curious, but not wanting to alert the boy to the fact she had been there, she moved as quickly as possible away form the offending door.

Piecing together what she had just heard, Sakura came to a quick conclusion as she walked down the hallway to her rented room.

"Sasuke's training even harder than ever…"

Lost in thought, Sakura found herself slightly surprised when, instead of finding herself in front of her room, she had started back down the stairs to the lower floor. Racking her brain, the only conclusion she found was that she must have forgotten where she was going.

So why was she at the stairs?

"Sakura."

Jumping at the voice sounding right behind her, the pink haired kunoichi spun on the balls of her feet to find a bent over Kakashi staring her straight in the face.

"Ka-Kakashi sensei…"

"We have about two hours before noon," Kakashi said slowly. "After this time, we have to make our way to the residence district to meet with our client."

"O-kay" Sakura replied, thinking over what he had said.

"Spend your time wisely!" Kakashi smiled as he quickly rounded the corner back in the direction of his room.

"Wisely…" Sakura rolled the word over her tongue as she thought over what her easy-going sensei might have meant. Continuing down the stairs, she failed to meet anybody as she made her way outside the inn, stopping at the front doorway.

Her hand wavered over the doorknob.

"I guess, I can…" Sakura voiced to herself. "I guess I can work on that Chakra technique Kakashi showed us on our way here…"

More than a little unsure, but confident in what her teacher had meant for her to do, Sakura made her way quickly outside the village, and into the towering weeds once more.

* * *

Kakashi smiled to himself as he watched Sakura leave to the village outskirts from the inn roof. Propping himself with his hands and feet on the uneven slope, he continued to balance the cardboard box on his knee as he waited for something.

Presently a crash was heard, and the silver haired jounin slid off the roof and through the window he had been sitting over. Happy that Sasuke had finally left the room to begin training, albeit a bit concerned that the boy had probably just fallen down the stairs, Kakashi quickly deposited the box on the bed in the corner of the room and moved to lock the door.

Moving eagerly back to the brown cardboard box, Kakashi unfolded the top and reached inside, finally removing a simple light blue colored novel. Opening the crisp pages, he giggled to himself, covering his mouth at whatever was shown on the first few pages.

"I love shopping."

* * *

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

Okay, first things first, I am so totally pissed off at my beta. That's right **_Sithex_**…

I'M SO PISSED I COULD SCREAM BLOODY MURDER! I SENT YOU MY ROUGH DRAFT A WEEK AGO, I WOULD AT LEAST LIKE TO SEE SOME KIND OF REPLY TO KNOW YOU GOT IT!

On the other side of that, I apologize in advance for any mistakes or story inconsistencies, as I did write this chapter in two parts, and I wrote the second one rather quickly. I would have liked to wait for my beta's reply, but as of now I have no time. I will be gone over the weekend, and figured you all would like this chapter now instead of later.

I hope that it is currently up to standards, but really, like last week, with exception to the discovery of Naruto's pack, it's just another filler. Next chapter, a few plot twists, and OC introductions.

BTW, So far, I know I have left several unfinished arcs in this and past chapters. They will be essential to the furthering of my story.

Do any of you think you can pick them out? A few of you have already mentioned at least one.

Just remember, I do not just mention things then leave them without purpose. These things will come back.


	10. Darkness Appears

A heated haze covered the entire village as high noon struck the residents of the very exposed country of Weed. Those experienced with the harsh climate of limited shade, had opted to stay inside for the afternoon.

In fact, the only people that appeared to prefer to remain outside in the stifling heat happened to be a group of three hazy figures limping through the narrow streets and uneven pavement blocks.

In reality, however, only two of the three figures were limping. The third, a tall and slouched figure, walked between the two shorter children. Although he was obviously older than his charges, he still appeared to be of a young age himself. He carried himself in a casual, relaxed manner, and had allowed half of his headband to slip over his left eye. A form-fitting mask, now slightly creased, covered his mouth.

The two children beside him, although similar in height and stance, seemed to be limping in a very painful manner. The girl, her bright pink hair hanging in front of her face, could be heard mumbling quiet obscenities under her breath. The boy, on the other hand, had his teeth clenched too tightly to mumble anything himself. Each step the boy took seemed to be agony. Tiny droplets of sweat had begun to make their way from his face down to his already saturated dark shirt.

The sorry group continued determinately on their path, for what seemed to the children like forever. The three shinobi passed several shaded spots with anguish. Yet, they were resolute in their will to reach their destination. However, as in all of mankind's confrontation with Mother Nature, they eventually bowed to the power of the weather and found a cool spot in the shade to wait out the worst of the heat wave.

Kakashi found a shady wall, an easy spot to lean against, while his two students simply fell to the ground within seconds of reaching the inner folds of the relieving darkness.

"Kakashi –sensei," Sakura panted out, "where is the place we're supposed to be meeting our contact?" She stared pleadingly at her teacher, hoping for an answer that would mean they were close. So far their trip had taken almost an hour, and she was beginning to wonder just how large this village was.

Kakashi, who had taken this prime opportunity to break in a new book, glanced down at his weathered student and answered her in the most truthful and comforting manner he could, "I have no clue, I was following both of you."

Resisting the urge to hit her sensei and working harder against the urge to cry, the bright haired kunoichi turned to her other teammate, who was currently unable to resist either urges. He appeared to be struggling to rise and beat the stuffing out of the silver haired jounin. All the while, a steady stream of tears was running down his cheeks.

Sasuke's breathing was labored and his heart was racing. Every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire, and he felt like he was beginning to dehydrate. Still, he managed to raise himself up off the ground and stumble over to his teacher before his legs gave out.

Without raising his gaze from the book he was currently intrigued with, Kakashi managed to reach out and catch the falling Sasuke by the collar. He then, without seeming to strain himself at all, he slung the boy on his shoulder.

"He's probably unconscious," Kakashi threw out, causing Sakura to gaze weakly up at her crush. "His body has been under a severe amount of strain lately, adjusting-"

In that moment, the limp form of Sasuke convulsed, vomiting on the wall behind the unconcerned jounin. A weak voice made its way back afterwards.

"I'm still awake, you cruel bastard."

"Good to hear!" Kakashi smiled behind his mask again. "Definitely made of sterner stuff. I like that. Now, you're awake so you can walk on your own."

Without any more preambles, Kakashi dropped the battered Sasuke to the ground, eliciting a moan from the boy and a broken gasp from their only female teammate.

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura mumbled furiously, struggling to rise up off the dusty ground, "Sasuke is tired, and he looks sick." Pausing a second as she finally rose, the sun caught her eye and the girl felt momentarily blinded.

In that time, she heard Sasuke struggling to stand. She heard his labored breaths and the rasp of his dry throat. She could almost feel the determination the boy was giving out in waves, focusing only on standing up.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, once again regaining her sense of sight. In front of her, she saw the sprawled body of her teammate. So far he had made no progress in getting up off the ground.

The girl felt like a weight had been pressed upon her shoulders, weighing her down further. Sasuke seemed to be struggling with the simple task of walking and Kakashi was being downright unhelpful.

To make things worse, they were an entire day late in meeting their client. Kakashi had forgotten to tell them that they were supposed to be meeting the man yesterday. Things were already off to a bad start.

In her mind, an image of their currently missing teammate passed though her head. If this mission took too much longer…With a sigh and a moan, Sakura finally moved to Sasuke's side. Although he continued to struggle to get upright, he was having no success in getting his legs to move.

"I'm going to hate myself for this…" Sakura quietly breathed to herself before turning to her jounin instructor. "Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi once again raised his eye to meet hers for only a moment before returning them to his book. Sakura took a deep cleansing breath to regain her strength, to no avail. This would be easier if she had chakra available for use. She had used up all her reserves while practicing Kakashi's chakra exercise an hour ago.

"We might have passed the building a few blocks back, Kakashi-sensei. You seem to be the freshest; would you go take a look?"

Once again, without looking up from his book, Kakashi turned and trotted back to where they had just come from. The second Kakashi was out of sight, Sakura turned to the still determined Sasuke. Whispering an apology to herself and Sasuke, she ran her foot back a bit before swinging it straight into Sasuke's stomach, driving what little air he had from his body. He quickly collapsed, and this time he didn't get back up.

Kakashi arrived back at the scene to find a propped up Sasuke and a doting Sakura checking him over.

"Kakashi-sensei," she cried worriedly, "he collapsed again!"

As Kakashi came and took her spot to check the boy over, Sakura found her eyes drawn to the new figure that had accompanied their sensei back to their resting spot. The figure was a teenage girl, tall, slender and blond. Her hair was drawn up into two long pigtails, and her face smiled brightly. Motioning quietly, the girl placed three canteens on the ground next to her and winked.

As Sakura came to inspect the offered drinks, the girl smiled even brighter and whispered something that sounded very much like 'good luck' before turning and walking back down the path.

"That girl…"

Sakura spun to see Kakashi with the limp form of Sasuke on his back. He watched in interest as she walked off around a corner.

"She looked familiar, ne?"

"I…I guess so…"

"Well," Kakashi questioned gently, a smile hovering somewhere on his face, "aren't you going to pass those canteens around?"

"Of…of course!" Sakura quickly reached down and picked one of the canteens up off the ground, tossing it to her teacher, before taking the other two and clipping them to her waist. Sasuke wouldn't be able to drink well right now.

Unscrewing the cap to her own canteen, Sakura doused her head in the cool liquid before quickly drinking the rest. She stared disappointedly at the small canteen and resisted the urge to drink some from the other canteen clipped to her waist.

Her throat now feeling better, Sakura turned to Kakashi, who was now taking a sip of his own water.

"Sensei, did you find the meeting place?"

Replying simply, Kakashi motioned with his hands in the direction of the road he had recently emerged from. "Of course, we passed it some time ago."

Too tired to argue, Sakura merely nodded her head. Slowly the duo plus the sleeping Sasuke made their way back to their destination. However, before going too far, Sakura turned to her sensei, and finally asked him,

"Kakashi-sensei, who was that girl?"

Nonchalantly, Kakashi replied with an easy tone, "I've never seen her before in my life. She looked awfully familiar though, didn't she?"

* * *

Staring up at the towering building, Sakura found it hard to see just how they had passed it by. Tall and majestic, the structure was of traditional design, namely finely crafted wood and a very elaborate paper wall design. Certainly a fire hazard, but beautiful nonetheless.

Upon arrival, Sakura and Kakashi were taken by a regimen of armed guards to the audience chambers. Sasuke, who had yet to wake from his exhausted slumber, was taken to a place to rest for their visit. Although a bit uneasy, Sakura made no objections, although refusing a period of rest for herself.

Following Sasuke's unconscious departure, the final two members of Team Seven were lead into a small waiting room. Barely the size of a large bedroom, the waiting room was furnished sparsely. The only item that piqued any interest was an, ornately designed, antique table that rose only high enough to meet a standing person's knee. Arranged neatly around it were several cushions, of which the two shinobi took seat on to wait.

Time moved slowly for the jounin and his student. Because of the limited furniture, there was little to look at and they could hear nothing coming from beyond the sliding door that led to the audience chambers. Silence reigned for much of the wait. Sakura had just about fallen asleep in her sitting position; since she was both mentally and physically exhausted herself. Kakashi had simply begun reading another book from his extensive collection, the sound of flipping pages only coming periodically.

Sakura could feel all her control slipping away, staring intently at the beautifully crafted table, but seeing nothing before her. Patterns in the table's wood only served to remind her of all the events that had taken place just recently. Naruto was still missing, abducted from right beneath her nose. This mission was only serving to hinder their search for him, and the only clue they had to his whereabouts was the pack they had recently found in that strange little man's pawnshop. Their quiet blond teammate could be in real trouble, deep in shit most people would hope never to deal with, but for what reason?

Finally, Sakura had come upon a question worth pondering. Why was Naruto abducted? Kakashi was just plain unhelpful and Sasuke had yet to give some insight on that subject…

With that direction of thought, the dark haired gennin's face drifted through the girl's mind. His agony just hours ago seemed unreal, but what was he doing? Kakashi had mentioned adjusting to something in passing, but she still had no idea what was causing him such discomfort.

_And I only made it worse_, Sakura thought to herself_, kicking him in the stomach. What came over me? Just seeing his determination, it…made me…_

…_angry._

_Why?_

_Why was I upset by Sasuke-kun's struggle? I just thought of Naruto and…_

Slowly the girl's head began to nod, falling into the small cave in her chest. Bubble-gum pink hair fell down to shadow her eyes from Kakashi, who sat across form her.

_I thought of Naruto and it occurred to me…Sasuke was…_

Sakura's thoughts began to swirl, draining away to be replaced by one solid observation. So solid, she felt as if she could reach out and strike it.

The thought disgusted her.

_I thought of how…_

_selfish…_

_Sasuke was acting…_

Finally Sakura's mind collapsed into oblivion, the fitful troubles of exhausted sleep.

* * *

Kakashi glanced only briefly at the man who announced their summons, instead focusing his attention on folding and hiding away the book he had been reading during the wait.

Placing one hand on the table on which his female student now lie, the jounin then levered himself up, his legs unfolding slowly, lazily, beneath him, his hand then moving swiftly to grasp the waist of his pants to tighten the belt he wore. He then lifted his hand to adjust the forehead protector that sat lopsidedly over his left eye.

Finally, after what seemed to the other man to be a fine amount of stalling, Kakashi stepped away from the table, moving towards the door with an air of finality. The jounin placed a single hand on the servant, a man that looked to be gaining years and weight beyond that which should occur in a man of servitude, and pushed him through the door ahead of himself, muttering softly in his ear.

"Leave her here. She's tired."

The firm texture in the jounin sensei's voice left no room for argument or protest. The servant merely nodded, at which Kakashi smiled jovially beneath his mask. Despite this, however, the air that existed in the corridor beyond the waiting room tensed dramatically.

Pacing down the dark hallway, the silver-haired jounin followed the other man closely, although lazily, as his single eye dodging left and right as he watched familiar doors pass by on silvery white walls.

Visibility was scarce; the corridor was pitch black, lightened only by the small bubble made by the single candle the man leading carried. Shadows flickered across the walls as the two walked carefully into the blackened abyss, a tunnel that seemed never to end. Their plodding along only served to further distance themselves into oblivion.

Slowly, however, there came change. A tightening of the chest, hairs standing on end, goose bumps; Kakashi felt a foreboding approach from the depths of that oblivion as the air around him grew cold. A darkness unlike what he had traveled through now surrounded the bubble of light. A pressure of great magnitude; he could almost feel it surrounding and pushing in on the light of the candle.

Suddenly, without seeming to emerge from the cold black, a wide door way stood before him, the doors open to allow the spill of darkness in the corridor. Looking left and right, he could see no other path, so the jounin followed the old man to the door.

However, upon stepping inside, the protective light from the candle vanished.

* * *

Alarmed, but uneasily cool, Kakashi stood in the straining darkness, his hand hovering over the kunai pouch he had belted on his leg. He forced himself to breath, the cool air around him sending chills down his spine, although even hidden in the darkness he did not allow it to show.

Instead, he waited. Waited for some sign or signal for his meeting with the leader of Weed to begin. Although he could feel the foreboding in the air, he forced it to the back of his mind, instead concentrating on remembering where he had been in the book he had been previously reading. Actually reading the type in the darkness of the room was out of the question, but he could at least do something to calm his mind.

Crossing his legs, Kakashi allowed himself to fall into a cross legged sitting position, his arms clutched before him and his back arched forwards. He then closed his eyes, even though it made no difference in the amount of light admitted to his sight.

Patiently, the jounin waited, his mind occupied with thoughts of his novel hidden, and his ears perked for the slightest sound coming from the darkness.

Because his sense of time was skewed by the absence of light, Kakashi was unable to tell exactly how long he had been waiting before a voice finally made itself known.

"_You were late."_

The sound ricocheted around the room, impossible to pinpoint. A deepness of the voice gave an ominous and masculine feeling to it, hinting lightly to the speaker's characteristics.

Kakashi continued sitting, his eye closed, as he seemed to ignore or simply miss hearing the bouncing sound. Carefully, however, he did reach up and fix his limp hair to fall out of his face.

His eye remained closed.

After pausing for several strained minutes, the voice continued, still bouncing from the walls surrounding the room.

_"Shinobi that are late are worthless. If you cannot be trusted to arrive on time, you cannot be trusted to follow orders quickly and efficiently."_

Again, the jounin remained silent, ignoring the cold voice that focused on his shortcomings.

_"The Weed has no need to deal with worthless shinobi."_

Still, Kakashi remained silent, waiting patiently in the frozen darkness, the timeless abyss.

"_It is a surprise, however, that such a powerful ninja of the Leaf is worthless, is it not…_

_Hatake Kakashi?"_

Finally, Kakashi stirred, surprised at being addressed by name. Raising his head, the jounin calmly inquired about the use of his formal name.

"How do you know me?"

The voice replied haughtily, laughing in his tone.

_"Who does not know of the famous Copy-nin Kakashi, the thief of over a thousand jutsu? The Hidden Village of Leaf's strongest jutsu master, and among their strongest jounin, you are famous._

…_Yet you were still late. You are worthless."_

Embracing once again a feeling of uneasiness, Kakashi stood.

"That's what my team says. It seems to be a problem I have developed over the years…"

_"Your team is young, I have been told. Are they your students? Was the weed insulted by having been sent a wet-behind-the-ears team of brats? Were we not taken seriously in our request?"_

Although the diction the voice used portrayed a sense of irritation, the tone instead continued to portray a sense of amusement, bordering on boredom.

Kakashi, once again, did not answer.

"_I suppose it does not matter, the missing people have returned, and no one is the wiser. It seems the help of your team is no longer required. _

_Instead, I would like to think of them as a hindrance."_

With the instinct born from his experience as a jounin, Kakashi swiftly snapped his kunai pouch open, blocking the unseen object that was headed towards him with a metallic clang.

"Attacking a Konoha shinobi. Does the Weed wish to start a war?"

_"War does not concern me. What does concern me is your presence here, at this moment!"_

Moving once again from instinct, Kakashi felt another object ricochet off of his kunai, followed by a wooden thud as whatever it was buried itself in the wall beside him. Kakashi took a few silent steps to the left.

"Don't I at least deserve to know why I will die here?"

_"You interfered."_

With that, Kakashi tried to again avoid the flung object, but upon blocking it with his kunai, it recoiled and sliced deeply through the cloth covering his face.

Almost immediately, Kakashi smiled and vanished in a brilliant plume of smoke.

Frozen curses followed the departure of the jounin's shadow clone.

* * *

Extending from the entranceway, a single shadow fell upon the sleeping Sakura. A messy haired, masked man entered the room, dragging behind him a large piece of polished wood.

Pausing, the man examined the strange pink hair of the female kunoichi, as well as giving her a quick nudge to check if she was indeed asleep.

Satisfied that she was indeed, the man grunted as he began to raise the polished wooden club above his head.

Asleep was one thing, but positively unconscious was much safer in his occupation.

Flexing his large arms violently, the man brought the club down with the wet thwack of wood connecting with flesh.

Sakura mumbled and rolled over in her sleep, oblivious to her near escape from a painful headache.

Behind the girl, the masked man paled as he stared into the single eye of another masked man. Silver hair lolled to the side of the face of a certain jounin sensei as he grasped the polished wood he had just caught in his right hand.

"I dislike it," Kakashi stated icily, "when people attempt to hit on my students.

You could have at least waited until she woke up."

* * *

Not too far away from his sleeping female teammate, another pair of eyes opened to a sense of peril.

Grasping the arm of the man who was currently attempting to strangle him into submission, Sasuke quickly squeezed until he felt a wet snap, resulting in the arm's immediate retraction.

Gently rubbing his slightly bruised throat, the boy took deep breaths as he swung his bare feet off the bed and onto the cold floor beside him. He then took a look in the direction of his assailant and smirked.

"So, you accomplished waking me up. Unfortunately, I've never been much of a morning person. What do you plan to do about it?"

Placing his weight on his two feet, Sasuke remembered the training he was currently enduring. He glanced at his wrist, tugging at the material. Hesitantly, however, he removed his hand, leaving the weight in place.

Instead, he turned his attention to the now cowering man in the corner, inching towards the door while cradling his broken arm.

"Well now, it seems I have yet to get used to these accursed weights," Sasuke announced carefully, as he walked slowly in the direction of the crouching would-be assassin. "I guess you should help me loosen up in favor for waking me early." Standing before the man, Sasuke smiled down him. "Rejoice, not just anybody gets a chance to fight an Uchiha."

Swinging his arm back, the dark haired gennin back handed the man through the wall, the force of his hit amplified by the weight he wore on his wrist.

"Don't you feel lucky?"

* * *

A single day's walk outside the capital city of Weed, sitting just beside a wide array of crumbled ruins, a single man stared across an ocean of weeds, riding back and forth in a protesting wooden rocking chair. Wrapped in a bundle of clothes, the obviously overweight figure seemed to be watching something out in the distance.

After a time, the man sighed and levered himself out of the creaking chair. Moving slowly, he limped across an old rickety wooden porch, and down a tiny flight of broken stairs, onto a dusty path, traveled rarely, but recently more often.

Continuing his limp, the man made his way down the path, staring unblinking at the surrounding mix of grass and weed. He took careful note of the many footprints that now covered the barren path.

When he turned, the man was facing a large wooded storm cellar door, concreted into the ground and covered in the overgrown weeds. Taking only a moment, the man stooped to unclasp the lock and to unbar the doors. Then, grasping the cool metal handle, opened the door without so much as a squeak.

Stepping down into the cellar, the light was almost nonexistent. Still, the man continued on with a sure step and a steady, unhesitant speed until he reached the back wall.

There he was greeted by a figure, asleep and balled up, chained to the concrete. Bright blond hair now dirtied after severe contact with the ground, connected to a whiskered face adorned the chained boy.

"It's finally started, boy." The figure spoke for the first time, his voice deep and rich. "The end of this nightmare had finally started…

_Naruto_."

* * *

_ From the Desk of Tyr'll_

Apologies for this late chapter, but I did write it almost two weeks ago, I was simply waiting for my beta to return it...

He is new, so maybe he didn't have time, but it still ticks me off. So now I have two betas, and one of them didn't even get to see it this time. Feel glad that I did update today.

Rejoice!

Or whatever. I'm hoping that this chapter turned out okay. I hadn't planned on some of what happened here until it did happen...

Oh well, with this chapter I hope to reach 100 reviews. I'm so close. But one way or another, you know the drill. I will update when I feel it is time. My schedule when it comes to my writing is very obtuse. Please be patient with me...


	11. Relaxation is Achieved Through Streaking

Deep in the heart of the single city of the Country of Weed, a palace once stood, tall and majestically projected against the darkness of any moonlit sky.

Such was the palace; a traditionally built wooden and paper household, earthquakes or other natural disasters would not bother its residents. With the collapse of any such wall or room, any inside would not be seriously injured, with only paper and broken pieces of wood to fall upon them.

However there was one particular disaster that the palace was in grave danger of falling victim to.

And that was fire.

It was during the night, the night of a full moon, when citizens awoke to the smell of cinder and the hot breeze that swept through every window in every ally. Swift measures were taken, as men and women alike rolled and jumped out of their beds to race to the blazing landmark of the Weed.

People either moved quickly, or not at all. While some departed to bring water and others began preparation to keep the fire from spreading, others stood transfixed and staring at the inferno. Flames danced in the eye of each beholder, brilliantly blinding, although somewhat enchanting.

It would be those people, gazing in wonder at the fire, a group consisting mostly of the children, who would begin a widely ignored rumor of flaming demons, ifrits, emerging from the flames and flying away to join the already rampant vampires in their reign of terror.

Although the reasons for the start of the fire remained unknown, the idea of a fire being started by demons was quickly discarded.

After all, who wants to believe that both fire demons and vampires were out for the ruin of your village?

* * *

"I can't believe you were going to leave me behind," a raven-haired boy growled as he quickly stripped himself of an already smoldering blue shirt. Reaching around the corner of the ally in which he sat, he snatched a small bucket full of water ready to be shipped off to the blazing palace and, without hesitation, doused himself. 

"That was mean, Sasuke," the tall man behind him scolded. "If you keep doing things like that, how do you expect those poor villagers to put out the fire you set?" Ignoring the glare sent his way, accompanied by what could either be a first-degree burn or a blush, the man sobered quickly, turning his attention to the girl draped over his shoulder.

Seeing his teacher's slight concern, Sasuke also turned his attention to the pink haired girl across Kakashi's back. "Is she alright?" he inquired quietly.

"Chakra exhaustion, accompanied by what appeared to be a pretty bad sunburn…" Kakashi replied carefully. "She hasn't woken up since I found her about to be brained."

The boy winced only slightly, instinctively rubbing the still sore throat area of his neck.

"We should head back to the inn."

Nodding in agreement, the two members of the Cell Seven gennin team stood, Kakashi still gently carrying the unconscious Sakura, and turned out of the ally.

Walking quickly to the inn in which they currently held rooms, the team turned their backs on the palace; currently going up in flames almost as quickly as their list of reasons to remain in this village. With the current and past situations catching up to the team, there seemed to be little reason for them to continue on their mission.

No benefactor and two out of commission teammates, one of which's current location remained unknown; there was really little they could do.

Just as the pitiful state of this particular list was brought to their attention, however, there was one item that began to emerge from the unknown, the shadows. And although there was little that they thought of the item in the beginning, future consideration would warrant a much closer inspection in the affairs of the Weed country justice system.

A rough, hacking, cough brought the two shinobi's attention quickly around, focusing instantly upon a soot covered girl just as she found herself in a sudden meeting with the rough and uneven stone road.

Attempting to inhale from the pain, the pigtailed blonde girl found she could only grasp at the shallowest intakes of breath. In both desperation and panic, she began to breathe faster and faster, her breaths becoming shallower in her attempts to get at the abundance of air around her.

Her vision began to swim, green eyes dilated in hyperventilation, as the last thing she saw was the widening of a certain silver haired man's widened slightly in recognition.

"Ka…kashi…san…" was all she was able to struggle through before succumbing to the darkness.

* * *

The two men stared at the girl for only a moment more before Kakashi looked expectantly at the boy beside him. 

"Well," he said a bit urgently, "aren't you going to help her?"

Sasuke only continued to stare, slightly panicked as he recognized just what 'helping' the poor pigtailed girl would entail.

Here was a lithe female body lying before him, unconscious from what was obviously smoke intake. Her slender face was covered in soot, and her bright blonde hair splayed out around her, mingling with the surrounding dirt.

Before he could think about the situation anymore, however, a quick blow to the back of his knees by the slightly irritated Kakashi, who was currently mumbling something about prudish pretty boy shinobi, forced him to the ground directly in front of the oddly familiar girl.

Once again, before he could ponder upon that lane of thought any further, he was brought back one more by his jounin sensei's yelling at him to 'just do it before she dies'.

With that, Sasuke then looked down and roughly wiped the area around her mouth free of some of the soot, tilted her head back, pinched her nose, and took the plunge.

* * *

Now safely back at the inn, Sasuke took the opportunity to glare at his jounin sensei without abandon, until the man felt he should relent and tell the boy where he had met the girl he was made to…intimately rescue…then carry all the way back to the inn. 

Lucky for him, Kakashi had every intention of telling the boy, but simply wanted to make him stew in his anger for a bit. After all, a flustered and angry Sasuke was a fun to tease Sasuke.

"Alright," the silver haired jounin whined piteously, "look, you can't stay angry at me forever Sasuke. After all, you owed her anyways."

Watching Sasuke's still angry, but now slightly curious eyes, Kakashi laughed inwardly, while outwardly attempting to continue looking poor and remorseful. A curious mind was something most people didn't attribute to the dark haired Uchiha, but to his teacher, it was an obvious trait.

"You don't remember her," Kakashi continued, "because that was when you fainted-"

"I didn't faint," Sasuke quickly interjected. "I was…" averting his eyes, Sasuke paused a moment before finishing. "Never mind."

"Mah, Sasuke, are you hiding something from me?" Kakashi inquired slowly, curiously, leaning in to see the boy's reaction.

"H-hey! This isn't about me! This is about her! The girl! How did she know your name and what do you mean I owe her?"

Grinning behind his mask, Kakashi looked down at the boy before choosing to give up his advantage and simply answer the question.

"If you remember, just before you…fainted, Sakura asked me to go out and find the palace for us. Now, while it didn't take me long, I did have the chance of bumping into somebody that was willing to help us out even further." Gesturing at the girl on the bed beside them, Kakashi looked seriously at Sasuke. "Sushi, I believe was how she introduced herself. It was only courteous that I should give my name as well in return. Purely out of the kindness of her heart," at this Sasuke snorted and Kakashi did his best to ignore that gesture, "this girl was the one that provided us with water and directions." Looking at Sasuke he paused.

"How kind of her," he reiterated, doing his best to mimic the stoic gennins voice and mannerisms. "Such a wonderful and kindhearted person that saved my sorry ass and to which I was indebted to and am grateful that I was given the chance to return the favor."

Sasuke snorted irritably.

"Besides," Kakashi reminded the boy in his normal relaxed tone, "I was carrying Sakura, you can't expect me to strain my back for a complete stranger, now can you?"

Tugging a the weights on his wrists, Sasuke couldn't help but wonder if Kakashi remembered that he had been wearing them at all. The trip had taken a fantastic amount of will power to finish, and now all the gennin wanted to do was join the two girls in sleeping. However, much to his irritation, both his and Kakashi's beds were taken and he had nowhere to sleep.

Still tugging at his weights, he noticed a slightly curious sensation around his wrists. Glancing down, he drew his index finger across his right hand, and then lifted it for inspection.

The tip of his finger was dusted with what seemed to be a heavy coating of some kind of powder. Skin colored powder, like some kind of make up.

When had he gotten it on his hands?

Looking up at his teacher, he sighed as he noticed was the man was currently reading. Before he could tear his teacher's mind away from the book, however, somebody beat him to the punch.

"Kakashi-sensei…"

Looking up, the jounin smiled as his eyes met with the confused emerald eyes of his team's kunoichi.

"Good morning Sakura."

Obviously confused, Sakura's eyes swept around the room, moving from Sasuke, to Sushi's unconscious form, to the door, then settling on her mentor.

"What happened? All I remember is setting my head down on that table for a moment…and…"

"Negotiations took place while you were sleeping, Sakura, and seeing no reason to wake you, we simply carried you back with us."

"Hnn," was all that Sakura mumbled while tenderly massaging her stomach. She obviously hadn't been paying too much attention to what the man was saying, but Kakashi didn't push it.

Once again however, Sakura's eyes drifted over to the sleeping Sushi. "Isn't that the girl that brought the water, Sensei? What's she doing here?"

"She had and accident," Kakashi replied smoothly. "We ran into her on our way here and she fainted, requiring that Sasuke-"

"Carry her back," the boy himself interjected quickly. "Just…carry her back."

_Aww, but Sasuke,_ Kakashi whispered_ Don't you want to tell her about- _

_This is Sakura in question, _the boy replied. _Keep your mouth shut unless you want to hear her whine about this for the rest of your life_

…_Good point_

Turning his attention back to Sakura, Kakashi opened his arms widely and smiled. "Sakura guess what?" he proclaimed loudly and clearly. "Sasuke kissed an unconscious girl while you were sleeping!"

* * *

"Damn Kakashi for saying things that can be so easily misinterpreted to troublesome women…" Sasuke mumbled to himself, rubbing the mark that had been made on his cheek by the out of control Sakura. 

Sitting on the bed opposite the sleeping Sushi, Sasuke paused to examine her face. Having been left behind by the fuming Sakura, who went out after eating to train, and Kakashi, who was out doing god knows what, Sasuke was the only one around to let the girl know what had happened after she woke up.

Studying her closely, Sasuke had noticed many different things about her, as he really had nothing better to do for the last fifteen minutes. He had done his best to take in as many details as possible from the girl whom had supposedly saved his life.

He couldn't remember her eye color, as her eyes had been closed since she fainted, but he had noticed her slender build, and he could remember the smoothness of her body from having carried her. Her blonde hair was matted and dirty, but it was unique in its two long ponytails that fell down far past her shoulders.

She was attractive, Sasuke decided, but at least not overly so. After all her bust…

Sasuke turned his attention back to the face, only slightly embarrassed at having caught himself examining her in that way. After all, he had no intention of courting the girl at all, even if she should wake up and show some kind of attraction to him.

He simply didn't have the time for any kind of dating.

Glancing at his wrist weights once more, he remembered the training he should be doing, instead of watching this girl and waiting for her to wake. Or they should be leaving Weed country all together, and beginning their search for Naruto. After all, it was obvious that the Weed government had not warm intentions for the team.

However, their silver haired sensei had advised against leaving right away. The way he had put it was something like…

"_We still have something we have to do, whether we were hired for it or not. Besides, are you saying you want to wimp out Sasuke? After all it's your choice as team captain for us to leave or to stay and see this through like men. Or of course women. Calm down Sakura. And you too Sasuke…_

_With that attitude I might think you disliked me calling you a man…You did, didn't you!? Are you a woman too, Sasuke?"_

Or at least something like that. Regardless, they were staying; Sasuke had made up his mind.

Still massaging his wrist, the boy was reminded of the powder he had discovered earlier. He had forgotten to mention it to Kakashi earlier, but he was pretty sure he had picked it up recently, and that it was some kind of make up. Assuming that he got it from a woman's face, god forbid, the only person he had touched recently had been that girl, Sushi, when he was wiping her face clean of soot.

While not intricately familiar with make up himself, he had picked a few things up from Naruto in the past. Namely that skin-colored make up could be used to cover up scars or other distinguishing characteristics during an infiltration.

With that in mind, Sasuke warily inspected the girl's face. She did look familiar, and if she was hiding something, it could be dangerous. The best and smartest course of action would be to check her while she was still out of it.

Slowly standing, he carefully moved over to the girl's side, leaning close to her face. Raising one hand, he reached forward to carefully brush the powder away.

In that instant, however, Lady Luck spat in his face. Just as he put himself in the compromising position, the girl's eyes snapped open. Staring into her blue eyes for an instant, he was caught by surprise as he was met by yet another slap to the face.

He was stunned. That was twice today he had been caught by surprise. Looking again at the girl, he noticed she had rolled off of the opposite side of bed and was looking at him from the other side.

"Pervert…" she muttered.

Sasuke didn't immediately reply. Perhaps he was mistaken before, but now taking a good look at the girl's eyes, he noticed they were green.

Thinking back, when she had awoken, weren't her eyes blue? He doubted he was mistaken.

There was obviously something wrong here, and he didn't like it at all.

* * *

Still fuming, Sakura finally reappeared at the inn, slipping her shoes off and working consciously to refrain from stomping though the foyer. Silently, the girl made her way to the stairwell, her bubblegum pink hair swaying with restrained fury, brow furrowed, and green eyes focused intently towards the floor a few steps in front of her. 

Sasuke was being such a…

…nice guy…

And she didn't know why it infuriated her so much. After she had hit the dark haired boy, he had explained rather huffily that he had only done it to save that blonde girl's life. It was kiss her or let her die. She had no problem with that.

What really made her angry was that the boy seemed to have no clue about why this might upset her. He knew she liked him and he was still confused. It really hurt her that he didn't know her as well as she hoped he had.

Then came the anger, to cope with the grief.

How dare that girl take Sasuke's special kiss, why didn't she just die?

It was after that thought that she immediately made her way out of the hotel and outside the city limits to practice her chakra exercises. It was probably best she work out the aggression, she figured, rather than let it build and tear out that blonde slut's throat before she awoke.

Needless to say, all the training did was foster her frustration through failure and a now grimy, sweaty body.

"Fu…" Sakura held back a curse. It felt totally out of character for her to feel this angry, but swearing would only foster into habit later. No proper lady swore, kunoichi or not.

Still, remembering that the rooms held no baths really irked her. She had hoped to fill a tub with a nice amount of warm water and simply soak until her anger left her, hoping it left before she got wrinkled.

So deep she was in her angry thoughts, however, Sakura failed to look before turning the corner at the top of the stairs, resulting in a resounding crash as she met a girl traveling the opposite direction from herself.

"Ehh, ouch…" Sakura moaned, caressing her forehead as she glanced over to the other victim in the accident.

Solid white hair played across the wooden flooring beneath the slightly tall, athletic looking girl lying on the ground before her. Although her attire was strictly homely, Sakura noticed a few oddities about the girl.

First and foremost was that she currently wasn't breathing.

"Shit!" Sakura cried as she moved to shake the girl's shoulders, then carefully check her pulse.

There was no beat.

…the girl was dead.

Eyes widening, Sakura stumbled back from the body, pressing herself up against the wall of the corridor. What had happened, all that should have occurred was a possible bump on the noggin. How had she died?

Panicking, Sakura fell over herself trying to get back to the body of the girl, throwing herself at it and shaking for all she was worth. Checking the pulse again, it was all in vain.

Clamping her eyes shut, Sakura simply prayed that the girl's soul would forgive her for her mistake. If she hadn't been so angry…

"Oh my, are you okay? You look rather upset."

Flinging herself once again away from the body, Sakura stared at the talking corpse.

"Really now, what's the matter?" the white haired girl questioned her blankly as she pulled her scattered hair up into a pretty little bun. "You look as though you've seen a ghost."

* * *

"It's my meds. Although it's completely necessary for me to take them, their side effects do hold a certain risk." 

After flailing around for a bit, before checking and rechecking the girl's pulse and deciding that she was indeed not a zombie come back from the grave to haunt her, Sakura agreed when the white haired teenager had suggested they discuss the issue in the previously unmentioned open aired hot spring.

In fact, Sakura had agreed without hesitation. If she had known that the inn had had an open aired bath before this, she would have gone straight there anyways.

Relaxing in the waters, Sakura allowed herself to examine the other girl before her. Now given the chance to more closely observe the other girl, Sakura decided that the term athletic didn't entirely fit the white haired teenager. She looked more delicate and smooth without any defined muscle that the description athletic implied.

However, she was indeed tall, and her deeply tanned skin accented her long white hair in a way that Sakura deemed pretty exotic.

Sitting in silent companionship, the other girl suddenly reached behind her and revealed a small brown bottle. Giving the top a sharp turn, the tanned girl tilted her head back and took a deep swig of whatever liquid sloshed inside it.

"What do you take your meds for?" Sakura inquired after a bit of quiet observation.

"Hm?" The reply was sleepy, without much thought to it. "What do you mean?"

"Are you sick?" Sakura reiterated, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Sick…? I'm not sure…" the girl smiled sweetly, openly. "My parents told me to take it whenever I feel a little uncomfortable," pausing, she pondered something for a moment. "By the way, you can call me Kai Lynn."

"Was that what was making you uncomfortable?" Sakura smiled. "My name is Sakura. Please, feel free to address me in whatever way makes you feel most comfortable."

Kai Lynn smiled once again in relief. "Thanks, Schnukums."

"S-schnukums…"

"Yes, isn't it a cute nickname?" Taking notice of Sakura's twisted face, the girl frowned slightly, quickly taking another draught from her dark brown bottle. "Do you not like it?" she asked quietly.

_Damn, I did offer to let her call me what she wanted, but I didn't think… _"No, it's fine," Sakura forced out, stiffly trying to wave off the other girl's discomfort. "I did offer…"

The awkward conversation stopped suddenly and fell into a less than comfortable silence in which Sakura tried to relax and Kai Lynn found herself taking more and more swigs of whatever meds she was on.

Whatever that liquid was, though, it made Sakura worry. She hadn't known the other girl for long, but she seemed like a nice girl. A part of the pink haired kunoichi wanted to protect the tanned teenager. Those meds couldn't really be helping her. Every time she took a swig, her eyes got less and less focused and her movements became even more lethargic. Her anemic reaction at the stairwell was also still fresh in the kunoichi's mind.

She even seemed less in touch with reality than she should be, and, judging from the way her skin was beginning to turn a reddish color against her tan, she wasn't able to logically tell she was boiling herself by sitting right next to the hot water spigot. If the meds were causing this, it probably wouldn't be too much longer before they killed her.

"Lynn," Sakura gently coaxed the nervous girl, "come here. You need to get out of the water."

"Hm…?" was the sleepy reply Sakura received.

"Lynn, come here." Sakura said it a bit more forcefully this time, a bit cautious about getting near the spigot herself.

Kai Lynn only mumbled something incoherently before lulling her head. Sakura cried out sharply as the other girl's head slipped under the water.

"Lynn!"

As swiftly as she could, Sakura moved over to the ledge at which Kai Lynn previously sat and pulled her dripping from the scalding water. Moving even faster, the pink haired girl wondered how Kai Lynn could stand sitting in such hot water for so long. In only the few moments she had spent pulling the tanned girl from the water, she could already feel herself beginning to burn.

"Shoot, those meds really are dangerous…" Sakura mumbled to herself. Struggling only slightly with the other girl's limp form, the pink haired kunoichi leveled the other girl out of the water and tried to lay her in the most comfortable position she could before grabbing a nearby towel and wrapping it around herself.

It was at this point that Sakura stopped for a moment, pausing to reflect on her current situation.

Here she was, naked in an open-air bath with an obviously drugged teenage girl suffering from what should be severe burns, even though from the looks of things she would be fine if she was quickly cooled off. To accomplish bringing this girl's temperature to a safe degree, however, she would be forced to leave the bath without the time to get dressed and run sopping wet and partially nude for a bucket of ice and some cool water.

…not high on her list of things she wanted to do before she turned twenty, but fairly high on her things she had to do right away, right between breathing and panicking.

Sakura was not happy, but she was desperate. And so within a few seconds, she shook herself and threw the door open to the changing rooms and hopefully in the direction of ice water…

…and ran headfirst into a bright blond pigtailed girl on her way into the bath.

"I hope this isn't becoming a habit," Sakura mumbled to herself, before realizing a very important fact.

Sushi wasn't sopping wet like she was and thus better suited for running half naked through the inn in search of ice and cool water.

"Wait," Sakura quickly cried out after the pigtailed teen, who stood back up and attempted to push past the pink haired girl, mumbling something about 'crazy and impatient ninja kunoichi'. Almost as quickly as she cried out, however, she began rethinking her idea.

Ignoring Sushi's confused look, bordering on annoyance, she considered what effects having the pigtailed girl run through the inn nude-

-Partially nude, She reminded herself- 

-could have on Sasuke with his recent strange behavior. Besides, didn't she hate the girl a few moments ago?

In the end, however, logic won out and she forced herself to look at the girl and ask, a little too timidly for her liking, "Would you mind running out real quick and finding some ice water, one of the other residents went and boiled herself and I…" Sakura found her voice trailing off.

Sushi blinked. "Sure, why not?"

Gazing on in shock, Sakura watched to blonde girl grab a nearby towel, wrap it around her waist and open the door to go back into the inn.

"Hold it!" Sakura cried. "You need to cover your…um…chest…"

Sushi blinked once again. "Oh yeah." Swiftly adjusting the towel so that it now covered her completely, the girl disappeared from the doorway in search of the ice.

"That…was weird." Sakura mumbled with a blush.

* * *

Splashing the dark skinned girl with her recently acquired ice water, Sakura felt more than relieved. With Lynn now recovering- 

_-and currently supporting a beating heart, she thought relieved-_

-she could feel her tension finally beginning to leave her body. She supposed this might also have something to do with how she no longer felt like strangling the odd blonde haired girl.

In fact, she smiled as she turned and slipped into the water across form the currently soaking Sushi.

"Mind if I join you?" Sakura asked sweetly, already beginning to relax once more in the warm waters. To her surprise, the other girl looked a bit uncomfortable before smiling back with a simple nod.

_She certainly is an odd girl_, Sakura thought carefully. _Maybe…_

She quickly brushed away that thought though. After all, what would the odds be?

Slowly, Sakura began to grow bored in the slightly tense atmosphere. Hoping a little conversation would lighten things, she looked up at Sushi, gathering her breath and asked her the first thing that came to her mind.

"So…how's life?"

Startled, Sushi looked at Sakura a little confused before she smiled, answering softly,

"It just is. Not really good, not really bad. So I suppose it's kinda just…here."

Well, Sakura thought to herself, at least this conversation won't be too boring…

_From the Desk of Tyr'll_

If only she knew how right she would be…

Sorry for the wait…

Well not really, but I do apologize for keeping you waiting. This chapter was kinda hard for me to write because it is a lot of filler, with some heavy set up. Next chapter, however, will begin the awaited for fight scenes. I so just want to do those; I have some interesting scenarios planned out for quite a few of my characters.

Please, don't be afraid of my Ocs though. While important to this current arc, they won't really be appearing later on in the story unless through some deep thinking or a lot of begging through reviews.

But then, I highly doubt that you would care THAT much for my original characters. Regardless, hope you enjoyed the chapter and hopefully the next one won't take so long to appear.

Also, if this chapter didn't fulfill your prayers for Naruto centeredness, don't worry. He'll be back soon. Like in a chapter or two.

Oh, two more things.

One, someone gave the suggestion of putting a 'previously on' section at the top of my chapters. While this would probably be a good idea, I must decline to do so due to several complications. Namely, my being too lazy.

If it gets to be too much of a problem, then I'll do it though.

Second, remember if you have any questions, please hesitate to PM me, but don't hesitate to review. I won't give away plot points, but if something needs to be clarified, I will do so.

Thanks!


	12. Naruto's Warning, The Traitor Revealed

It hadn't taken long for the two teenage girls to get comfortable around each other, regardless of Sakura's earlier misgivings. Before long the two were amiably pursuing several lines of light conversation in the hot springs.

Their talk took a different course, however, when Sakura sighed and started on a new topic.

"Kai Lynn is really beginning to worry me…"

"Hm?" Sushi questioned. "Who's Kai Lynn?"

Gesturing easily towards the dark skinned girl that was currently reclining on the cool rocks some distance away from the water, Sakura replied, "The girl you just helped save."

"Oh."

"Lynn has some serious issues…" Sakura continued. "Whenever she feels uncomfortable, her parents told her to take some kind of drug that puts her out of touch with reality…" With a quick tilt of her hand above her hand, she imitated a quick swig of a drink. "She was really hammering it down when she was sitting with me in here."

"Really? Is she not comfortable around you?"

"I…guess not."

Taking a good look at the sleeping girl, Sushi began to climb over the edge of the hot springs and made her way over the rocky surface. Her wet feet left a trail of dark wet prints to Kai Lynn, until the blonde pigtailed girl stood over the foreign girl and squinted.

Lynn began to twitch slightly as a few loose droplets of water fell from Sushi's outstretched arm onto her face.

"What are you doing?" Sakura questioned the blond girl curiously.

"Solving the problem."

With a single deft movement, Sushi snatched the small vial that contained the foreign girl's medicine.

Startled, Sakura began to stand up. "Should you really be messing with that?"

"Possibly not."

"Then why are you? Just put it back!"

"And leave the poor girl to continue struggling through a life like you described?" Sushi smiled, uncorking the vial, upsetting the contents inside and splattering a few droplets on the ground, which then quickly evaporated. "Not likely."

Sakura found herself quickly heaving her dripping body out of the steaming water to stop the smiling blonde. "Think before you act, that stuff could be important!"

"You're right," Sushi grinned even wider, watching the pink haired girl quickly approach, allowing her within arm reach before tipping the contents of the vial onto the ground beside the sleeping Lynn. "Oops."

"Hey! What were you thinking! She's going to notice that stuff is gone, and then who do you think she's going to blame?"

"You," Sushi looked directly into Sakura's eyes, "if she notices it's gone at all."

"Of course she's going to notice!" Sakura whispered furiously as Sushi moved back towards the hot springs, "She practically lives off the stuff."

Kneeling beside the spring, Sushi filled the vial with the steaming water. Re-corking the bottle, she then returned to the prone form of Kai Lynn, placing the bottle beside her and walking back to Sakura.

"Time to go."

"Hey!" Sakura protested as Sushi moved behind her and placed a calloused hand on her bare shoulder. "I'm staying here until she wakes up and I'm going to tell her what you did. She deserves to know."

"Sakura," Sushi whispered slowly, quietly, pushing the startled pink haired girl out of the hot springs area, "We have to go."

"What? Huh?" For a civilian, Sushi's grip was surprisingly strong.

"Get dressed, tell Kakashi-sensei we have an intruder in our midst." Looking Sakura in the eye, Sushi began to change. Her once feminine face began to fill out, her body following suit and her hair seemed to fade away, shortened to spiked blonde locks. "I've got a feeling I've been found out, and I've learned to trust those feelings. We have to get to the girl before she reports back."

Sakura found herself tearing up as she stared back into a now familiar face. "N-naruto?"

"Sorry, I can't stick around any longer. I have an imposter to take care of." The boy's face grew into a once comfortable smirk, eyes darkening as he turned and seemed to change clothes almost instantly. "Hurry up and tell Kakashi. He'll know what to do."

With that, Naruto reached to door and stepped through, vanishing with the speed born from living as a ninja. Sakura found she could no longer stand on her shaking legs. They collapsed beneath her.

"Naruto…you're back…"

* * *

"Sa-Sasuke!"

Glancing towards the sprinting Sakura, Sasuke allowed himself to slow down in his run around the inn. Earlier Kakashi had told him that movement would help him get used to the weights that he had tying him down.

"Sasuke, where's Kakashi-sensei?"

Now slowed down to a slow walk, the dark haired boy looked up at Sakura and took in her appearance. Damp hair and clothes, along with the way she was panting, told him whatever it was, it was urgent. But he still couldn't help asking.

"Why?"

Her reply was quick. "We have an imposter in the inn! A spy!"

Sasuke now stopped, eyes narrowing. "Sushi?" Turning back to the inn, he only stopped when he heard Sakura shout something else out.

Whatever it was, only one thing important registered.

Naruto was here. He had been right next to them all.

It all made sense in an instant, the make up to cover those strange scars across the boy's face, the less than feminine actions, the disgust shown at having been saved…

Shuddering slightly, he turned back to Sakura, "Who's the imposter then?"

"He…didn't say. Only that Kakashi would know what to do…"

"Then come on, let's get Kakashi. He should be back at the room."

Turning back to the inn, Sasuke brushed his hair out of his eyes as he began to think. The situation must have changed somehow. With Naruto back, they should have been able to leave, but Naruto had left before clearing up that cryptic imposter notion in Sakura's head.

"Sakura," he turned and glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye, "did Naruto tell you anything else?"

"All he said about the imposter is that Kakashi would know what to do…"

"No," Sasuke stopped her, "If you're right, Kakashi will clear up this imposter thing, so that's not important."

"Then what do you want to know about Sasuke? We didn't really talk much…"

Sasuke stopped, turning to look back at Sakura. "How did you find out that Sushi was Naruto in disguise?"

"How did I…? Oh…" blushing slightly, the pink haired girl quietly mumbled as much about her morning as she could remember.

"So, you did spend some time talking to him, as Sushi?"

"Ye-yeah," Sakura found her face getting redder and redder at the thought of having spent such an absurd amount of time talking to a boy in the nude.

"He didn't seem rushed at all while you two were talking?"

"No, not at all. We really just…talked for a while."

"About anything in particular? Did any peculiar topics come up at all?"

"Just Kay Lynn's medicinal issues…and I told you about that."

"I see…" Sasuke furrowed his brow in thought as he began to walk again, treading up the stairs to the second floor in a puzzled silence. There had to be something he was missing.

"Oh!" Sakura squeaked suddenly, startling Sasuke, causing him to spin around and stare at his female teammate half way up the stairs.

"What do you remember?"

"Well…it's probably nothing, but…Naruto did mention having been found out right after he revealed himself, then he kind of seemed in a hurry…"

"He did…"

"Um…yeah. That's all I remember…"

Sasuke stood for a moment before he began to make his way up the stairs, brow once again furrowed in thought. What did he know about Naruto, and how could this all fit together? Something inside him told him he had the answers.

He felt as though it was right there; so close…pieces of the puzzle sitting in front of him, just waiting to be placed together to form the big picture.

However, it was only when he finally stepped on the final stair and onto the second floor that he could almost hear the click as everything made sense.

Sakura stumbled slightly as Sasuke simply halted at the top of the stairs, bowing his head and allowing his raven colored bangs to overshadow his eyes.

"That bastard," Sasuke whispered, a small smirk threatening to break cover. "That bastard always had to do things his way…"

Sakura stepped back at the sound of Sasuke's voice to get a better look at him, just as Sasuke himself spun around and drew himself up to full height, a full grown taunting grin grown upon his face.

"Hey, Sakura. Wasn't 'look underneath the underneath' Kakashi-sensei's overused saying while we were training together?" Pausing for a moment to see if Sakura had understood his meaning, he turned back around with only a murmur.

"To think such a cliché phrase…"

* * *

Time does not stand still for us when we need it to. Events set in motion stay in motion. No rest for the weary.

While Sushi and Sakura sat chatting in the hot springs, disappearances began once again in the Weed Country capital, at a rapidly increasing pace.

Those already abducted in a previous raid remained untouched by the strange daytime culling, flowing through their daily habits in a way most natural, unfazed by news or sightings of the dark shapes that pulled people into the shadows.

When Sushi unmasked herself and sent Sakura off to find Kakashi, a dark and humid room was filled with a white smoke, billowing out only to rapidly dissipate through the small underground cellar, leaving only a tall lanky man holding what should not have been an untarnished kunai.

Lean but filled with carefully controlled lust; his dark eyes scanned the dark room, as penetratingly as a stalking tiger in the dead of night. At seeing nothing, the man swung his kunai, cleanly slicing the twin manacles dangling from the wall and allowing them to fall with a loud, staccato clash.

Tossing the ruined kunai to the side, the man then turned, his long black hair wildly tame, as his unfulfilled lust grew less carefully monitored.

And it was the moment that Sasuke turned from the top stair into the hallway that led to their room, that a young girl calmly exited Kakashi's room and silently shut the door. She then managed to look fairly naturally surprised at the sighting of the two gennin at the end of the hallway.

This was indeed fairly remarkable considering two things; one, that she was currently covered up to her elbows in what suspiciously looked like blood, and two, being…

She was expecting them.

"Oh, hullo," Himoko slurred demurely, "I don't believe you should see Kakashi-san at the moment. He is rather…tired. I would have told you to come back later, but I think he may not be waking up anytime soon. He has had a loong day…"

* * *

Sometimes, in his quieter, more peaceful moments, Kakashi spent time relaxing in activities that he enjoyed. These times in themselves were very rare, but when such a time came around, he devoted much of his time to reading.

Most people believe that to know what the future holds, to see into the great beyond and anticipate incoming events is a skill that is either impossible, or achieved through divine intervention.

And to a great extent, these people would be right. However, this is not to say that some poor, untalented mortals won't find some way to cheat.

And Kakashi was nowhere near untalented. Therefore, he had more of a chance at cheating than the normal human being did.

And he did everything in his power to take advantage of this.

To begin with, the jounin of the Hidden Leaf Village taught himself many things that he figured may come in handy, little things, habits, that he forced himself to pick up for the betterment of his shinobi career.

He taught himself how to perform adequately in most daily activities equally with both arms, and then he practiced doing so without using his hands. He even wore a watch for a time, in order to teach himself the benefits of learning to read time quickly and precisely when your watch is upside down.

He challenged himself each day, to make things just a bit harder than they needed to be.

But only a little bit…

And one of the things he had taught himself was a strange habit, one that had taken a while for him to develop, even though it seemed pointless. In fact, it was a motion in life that rather ruined the story.

One may not logically be able to see into the future in everyday situations, but knowing how things would turn out in the end was simple in other matters. It merely made the journey traveled when reading a story a lot less…fulfilling.

It was, however, this very habit that saved the elite jounin a few severe burns, and one irritating skin graft, for it was through opening the book from the back to read the last page, that he was able to quickly perceive and disarm the rather dangerous explosive tag triggered when he picked up his new book for a first time reading.

He was, however, loath to notice that the burning of the tag had left a discolored dark patch on the last page, preventing him from easily distinguishing much of the text.

"Damn," Kakashi swore to himself, as he began to calculate the effort it would take to restore the page back to readability. The story didn't quite fill out as well anymore if he was unaware of the ending of the book; so starting from the beginning was out of the question.

…Still, he had been presented with a unique opportunity…

And taking advantage of all available opportunities to get ahead is what made a great shinobi even greater. At least that was what he believed. And as of yet, no opportunity he had seized had come back to bite him, so after a little thought, and a lot of quick preparations, the quick witted jounin made his way to the door, into the hallway and promptly entered the next door bedroom.

It didn't take much more follow through than this.

Feeling secure in his set up, Kakashi quickly went about finding himself a comfortable, unseen, corner to sit in, and fell into a light slumber.

After all, tonight would probably be a long night, especially if he had anything to say about it. This farce had been going on for far too long.

* * *

"Hey…Sasuke…" Sakura whispered. "I'm pretty sure whatever it is that's covering Himoko's arm, it isn't blood. It's way too thick."

"Idiot. Of course it isn't blood. I can smell it from all the way over here. That's ketchup. She's probably under some kind of genjustu…"

"What gave you that idea, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked in a sweet, but not-so-quiet voice. "Could it be that she's still rambling on about killing us as well as our 'idiot sensei'?"

Moving closer to the self-proclaimed psychopath, it became far more obvious of her current condition. Her eyes, now a sickening shade of yellow, were glazed and the irises in both of her eyes had enlarged so much, that they now all but forced the color in her eyes to disappear.

"She looks sick…" Sakura observed, reaching her hand out to feel the other girl's forehead.

"Stop it Sakura," the dark haired boy commanded. "We don't know what kind of illusion she is in. If it was placed by our stupid teacher, who knows how powerful it is. Physical contact could break the illusion, or worse, trap you as well."

"R-right…"

"He's right you know."

Whirling around, Sakura backed into a wall only to come face to face with their 'stupid teacher'. Kakashi, his single eye lazily peeking out from beneath his headband, spoke without hurry.

"I placed a genjutsu on the doorknob to my room. The illusion enters the mind though the nervous system in your skin. Direct contact with the knob would result in a similar illusion…but it's a one-way street. The illusion only enters though the skin. It can't be transmitted back by the victim."

"Kakashi-sensei, what's going on?"

With little movement at all, the jounin of the Village Hidden in the Leaves gestured towards Himoko. "We had a traitor in our midst. A spy, I would assume, of a certain dangerous leader of the Country of Weed." With a dryly-amused voice, Kakashi spoke plainly. "I believe he sees us as a…hindrance to whatever he is planning to accomplish with his abduction game."

"Wait…" Sakura interjected, "the man who hired us was the one who is behind the disappearances?"

"Hey!" The sudden utterance lifted Team 7's concentration from the unraveling of one mystery to the more immediate danger posed by the auburn haired man standing at the top of the stair. Keigo stood rigid, one hand firmly grasping a mallet held readily at his side. "What's going on? Himoko, what's on your hands?" Something seemed to pass quickly behind his gaze before he managed a tentative answer to his questions. "Is it…blood?"

Startled by Keigo's sudden appearance, Sakura blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

The truth.

"Don't be an idiot. It's ketchup!"

Of course, in the case in which the truth is a bit ridiculous, lying is often the better option.

"Oh my…it is blood! And you're covering up for her. What did you four do?" Keigo exclaimed in horror.

Getting agitated, Sakura moved to prove her point. "It is ketchup, and I'll prove it." With a quick movement, she made to wipe some of the red liquid from the blunette's arms. However, in an instant, her hand was stayed by Kakashi's firm grasp.

"Not smart. She may be in a daze from the illusion, but she is still capable of injuring you if you get too close." With his warning, Kakashi turned to look at the nervous resident. His gaze was cool and collected, but not all together assuring to the man. Indeed, from Kakashi's stare he could only read the danger that the jounin posed if he were to be heckled in any way. With a nervous swallow, Keigo gently placed the mallet on the floor and put his hands behind his head.

The nervous perspiration that he felt soaked in caused his thick, heavyset glasses to slide down the bridge of his nose. He felt like throwing up, the sense of danger, his mind was screaming in panic, but something told him he would be safer if he didn't move. Not that his legs would let him if he tried.

"Calm down. Nothing has happened. This is all a misunderstanding."

Keigo wanted to believe the finally assuasive voice that came from the largest of the Leaf Villagers, but something was definitely wrong.

"You…you said something about the person behind the disappearances…and your kind never goes anywhere without a reason…has Himoko…?"

"Perhaps, but not in the way that you think."

"Oh god…" Keigo muttered in panic once again.

Calmly, Kakashi revealed, "She has been lying to us all…"

"That sweet girl…what am I going to find in her room when I clean it? I won't. I won't go near it."

Seeing the man's increasing anxiety, the jounin spoke softly, so as not to panic him any further. Indeed, all he wanted was for the man to calm down, but knew it would be unlikely. He was probably babbling out of shock. "She isn't who you think she is, but calm down. Everything is going to be fine."

A sudden crash from the hallway behind the shinobi forced them to relinquish their concentration once again, and the brown haired villager took no time in fleeing down the steps from his projected terror.

Just down the hallway, a small hole had opened up in one of the walls of a neighboring bedroom. The debris that lay scattered outside the wall played testimony to a force inside the room causing the hole, but no other sounds escaped from the room.

When Sasuke made a move to pursue the resident handyman, Kakashi quickly stilled him without taking his carefully trained eye from the impromptu window in the hallway.

"Leave him, we can't stay here any longer anyways. Gather your supplies and meet me outside as soon as you can.

Don't dawdle, I'm not sure what we're up against, but this mission has just jumped to at least a Rank B spec."

The raven-haired gennin turned away quickly to hide a growing smirk. "Finally, some action…" was all he muttered as he briskly down the hall to his and his sensei's room.

Sakura stayed a moment longer to observe the silently staring Himoko before giving a curt nod and following after her male teammate. Since she had shared a room with Himoko, Sakura knew that whatever she had brought might be compromised.

Finally alone in the hall, Kakashi made his way to the hole in the wall. From a distance, he peered inside. Although he couldn't see anybody, they could be hiding against the opposite side of the wall the hole had been made in.

_This side of the hallway is on the outside of the inn, so there should be a window in that room…_Kakashi thought to himself. _I can enter from the window or the door…_

With a quick assessment of the situation, the silver haired jounin placed his hand on the surprisingly warm metal of the door handle.

It wasn't locked.

"Door it is then." With a solid push, Kakashi threw the door wide open.

* * *

Sakura peered around her shared room. To think, last night she shared a bedroom with a psychopath. The image of Himoko's glowing yellow eyes watching her at night as she had slept though exhaustion made her shudder in cold realization.

She had been so vulnerable, and it frightened her how naïve she had been to share a room with a stranger in a hostile village.

Quickly, Sakura moved to gather her things together in her travel pack once more. A methodical assessment of her belongings showed that nothing had been outwardly tampered with, and everything was accounted for.

Still, as she turned to leave, something pressed at her mind as strange. Whatever it was bugged her enough that she felt obligated to give one last look around the room.

And when she looked at it, it slightly surprised her. The room of the sociopath seemed so…normal. It may have been a bit barren looking at first, but the character of the room seemed to stand out immediately upon inspection.

Himoko's belongings were so orderly; everything packed away neatly and systematically. What had seemed sparse was actually compact. Her bed was pressed all the way against the far left wall of the room, and pushed into the upper corner. The girl's belongings were almost all packed underneath the bed in a large suitcase that was barely visible under the draping sheets on the mattress. The closet was carefully arranged with knickknacks of various sorts, including toiletries and the futon Sakura had slept on the previous night. She had obviously been here at the inn for a while, but it seemed she had never truly settled in.

But still, out of everything in the room, the single trunk stood out the most. Not in orderliness, but simply because it was the least orderly of the room. The trunk was large and shoved haphazardly into the corner across from the bed. It was darkly colored, but still obviously stained. The lock seemed to be broken, and essentially useless, so instead it had been held shut with two long black leather belts.

With a slight pause, Sakura considered opening the trunk. The girl was obviously their enemy, and if the trunk was the only place she had not inspected, perhaps there might be something worthwhile to inspect inside.

It only took the kunoichi a few moments to undo the straps binding the trunk closed, and she quickly took a breath, peering inside.

The contents disappointed her. Books, documents, letters, and personal effects were all that the pink haired ninja could find.

The trunk was a waste of time. She was going to be late in meeting the others.

Closing the trunk, she shoved it in the corner that it had once been sitting haphazardly in. The hollow sound it made alerted her to something being amiss.

Opening the trunk once again, she realized that it was not as deep as it seemed from the outside. Lifting the literature and paperwork from the chest, it became obvious that the bottom was a hastily constructed false.

Levering it out, Sakura once again peered inside to see two books; what seemed to be an encyclopedia covered in sticky notes and a small black journal. Beside the two books was an opened envelope, but no letter.

Quickly gathering the two books in her arms, Sakura wasted no more time in meeting her team outside.

_**From the Desk of Tyr'll**_

Welcome back, one and all. I know that it has once again been quite some time since I last updated this story, but, forgive me, I didn't know what was going to happen until just recently.

A case of writer's block that I allowed to sit until, a few weeks ago, everything just popped into place and I began to write once more. I apologize for the wait, but I am a terrible procrastinator without any drive to really sit down and write, so the next chapter may be another while.

But at least I have a better idea where it is going. I do not intend to drop this story any time in the foreseeable future…

Lemme know if you got questions.

Oh, and I meant to have the next few chapters written before posting this one, but I'm kinda hoping that some reader response will give me a primer, so…

Thanks for the support of anybody willing to continue waiting.


End file.
